Grief 'unimaginable' after death of classic car racer

The driver of a classic car died in a crash with an ambulance when he spun into its path because he could not brake in time, an inquest heard.

Simon Diffey, 57, died when his vintage Bugatti sports car collided with the emergency vehicle, which was responding to a call, on the A6 in Bedfordshire in May 2022.

Mr Diffey, from Markyate, Hertfordshire was a professional classic car racer, well-known in historic motorsport.

His wife, Sarah Adams-Diffey, said his death had "caused unimaginable grief for myself, his family and our many friends in the motorsport world".

After an inquest held three-and-a-half years after the crash, Emma Whitting, senior coroner for Bedfordshire and Luton, concluded Mr Diffey died as a result of a road traffic collision.

The hearing, in Ampthill, heard how Mr Diffey was driving the Bugatti northbound on the A6, near Barton-le-Clay, at 18.23 GMT on 14 May 2022.

An ambulance responding to an emergency call was travelling on the southbound carriageway.

The car in front of Mr Diffey, a BMW X2, slowed in response to the oncoming ambulance, which was overtaking cars.

The coroner's report said Mr Diffey was "driving too close to the BMW X2 for the braking capabilities of the Bugatti".

In order to avoid a head-on collision, the inquest heard, he steered towards the centre of the road, but the Bugatti's rear left wheel hit the BMW.

The car spun, coming to rest on the southbound carriageway in the path of the oncoming ambulance.

Mr Diffey was thrown out of the Bugatti due to "its violent rotation", and because the vintage car had no seatbelts.

The ambulance tried to take avoiding action, the hearing was told, but Mr Diffey was fatally injured.

Despite "the considerable efforts of both the ambulance staff involved in the collision and of those who subsequently attended", he was pronounced dead at the scene at 19.03 GMT.

In a statement, Mrs Adams-Diffey said: "Everybody who was involved on that fateful evening will have been traumatised in some way or another and my heart goes out to all of them.

"There must be some truly horrible images in people's minds which will haunt them for years to come."

She added that her husband had his life "snatched away from him when he had so much more to give and so many more races to win".

At the inquest, lawyers for Mrs Adams-Diffey said her understanding of what had happened to her husband had been made harder as the cameras on the ambulance were not operational at the time.

An East of England Ambulance Service spokesperson said: "At the time of the collision our vehicle cameras were not operational as discussions with stakeholders, including trade unions, regarding their use were still ongoing."

It added that cameras on vehicles have been operational since 2023.

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