Death crash prompts safety move

Tony Croft and Joe Grunwell died in the accident at Heron's Ghyll

A road safety drive will get under way in East Sussex in the wake of a double fatal crash on the A26.

Tony Croft, 25, from Crowborough, died alongside his 16-year-old back-seat passenger, Joe Grunwell, when his car was in collision with a tipper lorry.

Two other male passengers were also seriously hurt in the crash at Heron's Ghyll at midday on Saturday.

Sussex Police said 15 officers would begin the operation on 11 November and would be checking cars on the A22.

The operation is being launched on Wealden district's A22 main road.

Insp Steve Grace said the circumstances of Saturday's crash still had to be established, but the incident was a sad reminder that rural areas could experience a rise in the number of fatal and serious injury crashes during the autumn.

Car checks

He said the safety operation would aim to reduce casualties and anti-social driving across the Wealden area.

Officers will be issuing driving advice for poor conditions, penalising drivers who use phones or do not wear seatbelts, and tackling motorists who are caught speeding or under the influence of drink or drugs.

Police will be checking cars and drivers on the A22 on 11 November, and then on other primary roads and back roads over the following couple of weeks.

The driver of the lorry, a 63-year-old man from Eastbourne, was uninjured in the crash on Saturday.

Two other car passengers, aged 15 and 21 and both from Crowborough, received serious but not life-threatening injuries in the crash.

Dozens of the victims' friends visited the crash scene at the weekend to pay their respects and lay floral tributes.