'Chicken' game ends in death

Thomas Playforth  ran into the road, stopped and stood in front of the heavy tractor artic—arms outstretched “like a starfish”—in an act of bravado during an evening of drunken disturbances by gangs of youths, a coroner was told.

The 18-year-old plasterer and labourer of Hayhurst Crescent, Maltby, who died instantly from massive head injuries, had been walking with a group of friends on a Friday night last February as schools broke up.

He had been seen swaying in front of a car in similar fashion and, seconds before the crash, a teenager had looked away because she feared what might happen.

Another witness remembered seeing Thomas cross the road laughing and putting his arms out before he was struck.

The inquest heard that earlier he jumped “like a monkey” into the path of a taxi and splayed himself across the bonnet of a stationary police car as officers looked on from inside their vehicle. 

Police were called to a number of incidents with gangs of up to 20, aged from 15 to 19, running around Maltby.

Officers were jeered by youths and beer splashed across their car.

Thomas, who had been drinking lager and cider from around noon, had smoked cannabis and taken diazepam.

He was twice spoken to by officers, who intended to issue him with a fixed penalty ticket.

At 6pm, he was drinking from a can while standing in the road blocking the path of the car driven by his aunt, Jane Gibson.

The accident happened around 9.20pm on Muglet Lane, Maltby, as Thomas’s group made for Coronation Park.

Friend Dean Bailey saw Thomas, cider bottle in hand, go past him seconds after another group member, Jamie Woffenden, ran across.

“He started putting his arms out and that’s when it happened,” he told the inquest.

“He was facing the lorry when I saw it strike him.”

Thomas’s sister, Ali Playforth, was in tears as she asked him: “Can you remember his last words?”

Dean replied: “He said ‘Do you want a swig of this cider?’”

In tears, she went on: “Do you think he was playing chicken with the lorry?” Dean replied: “Yes.”

Lorry driver Ian Parker said that one youth ran across the road in front of him, followed by another a second later.

“He stood with both his arms like a starfish, less than a metre away from the vehicle,” he said.

The inquest heard that Mr Parker had no chance of avoiding the collision.

Thomas’s sister Alison told him: “We don’t hold any malice, we don’t blame you at all.”

The Rotherham deputy coroner, Fred Curtis, recording a verdict of accidental death, said that significant numbers of young people were on the streets and ma to the people who left were drunk.

Did you know Thomas? Use the "write a comment" buttons to pay your tribute to him.

He said: “The behaviour was from time to time unruly and certainly the sort of behaviour that is always likely to risk an incident, perhaps not one similar to that which happened, but always a risk of some road traffic incident or public order matter.”

CCTV footage from the crash scene graphically revealed how Thomas was killed.

Mr Curtis said that at the time Thomas was affected by a combination of drink and cannabis and undertook something that he would otherwise not have done. He said it was a “dreadful waste of life.”

Thomas’s sister Ali told the inquest that her brother loved life and was always playing pranks.

Afterwards, she added: “We loved him to bits, regardless of what was said today.”