Driver who killed student on forecourt jailed

A driver who killed a university student when she careered off the A1 into a service station forecourt, less than a minute after ending a video call, has been jailed.

Fiona Phippen, 45, was travelling at speeds of up to 51mph (82km/h) when she careered across the forecourt at Foston Services, near Grantham, Lincolnshire, in June 2024, without braking.

CCTV footage from the scene showed the defendant's Nissan Qashqai smashing into Urwah Tanveer, 20, who was stood next to her family's Mercedes.

Phippen, of Church Close, Great Wilbraham, Cambridgeshire, was jailed for four years and three months, and banned from driving for seven years and six weeks at Lincoln Crown Court earlier.

The court heard Tanveer's grandmother, Samina Idris, 83, who was inside the vehicle, was also seriously injured, with CCTV footage also showing Tanveer's brother jumping out of the way of Phippen's approaching car.

Phippen had previously claimed her brakes did not work, and later that her cruise control was defective, but no mechanical faults were found with her vehicle.

In April, Phippen admitted causing death by dangerous driving, and a charge of causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

The court heard Tanveer, who was due to graduate from Queen Mary's University in London after earning a 2.1 in psychology, suffered catastrophic injuries and died in hospital a day after the crash.

Jon Dee, prosecuting, told the court: "The car is obviously out of control."

Tanveer's mother, Nahail Idris, an NHS worker, described having to climb over the wreckage of the car to try and get to her daughter.

"On 29 June 2024 at 12.50 my daughter was killed in front of my eyes," she told the court.

"Having subsequently seen the video footage, I now realise just how close Phippen came to killing two of my children.

"This is my life sentence."

Tanveer's grandmother told the court how the crash had destroyed her own health and family.

"I cannot be left alone," she said. "I am not the same person.

"No child should die before her parents, never mind her grandparents."

Passing sentence, Judge Simon Hirst said he was satisfied Phippen was not concentrating properly, most likely because of the call.

"That phone call ended 38 seconds before the collision and 32 seconds before you left the A1," he said.

"It follows you had little over half a minute to assess and decide what to do.

"It is plain you had insufficient awareness of what was going on around you on the A1."

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