A motorist who was due to lose his licence after being caught drug-driving killed a father in a head-on collision just weeks before the ban was processed.
Pete D’Arcy, 57, died on December 13, 2025, when his Volkswagen T-Roc was hit by an Audi A4 driven by 24-year-old Robbie Kenneth Diffey.
Diffey was travelling at 92mph and was under the influence of both drugs and alcohol when he veered onto the wrong side of the road shortly before the crash.
An inquest heard that Diffey, who also died in the collision, had been stopped by police two months earlier on suspicion of driving while impaired by cannabis.
Following that incident, Dorset Police recommended that his licence should be revoked, but the action was not completed until several days after the fatal crash.
A coroner later concluded that Mr D’Arcy had been unlawfully killed.
Louise said her husband’s death could have been avoided and revealed the devastating lasting impact it has had on their family.
The carer, from Salisbury, Wiltshire, said: ‘The other driver was recording it, and he was going nearly 100mph – he was on Pete’s side of the road, and the worst of it is he’d been stopped weeks before for drug driving.
Pete D’Arcy (pictured), 57, died when his Volkswagen T-Roc was struck by an Audi A4 driven by Robbie Kenneth Diffey
Pete pictured with Louise and their son
‘He didn’t have his licence taken away, and he was waiting to be banned – the police had sent the paperwork off to the DVLA saying they were waiting on blood results to ban him.
‘I knew it wasn’t Pete’s fault – I’ve known him for 25 years, we were together 23 years.
‘He’d never had an accident, and he drove across the country for his job daily.
‘I know his [Diffey’s] family have lost somebody as well, but it was his choice to get behind that wheel – he didn’t think of anyone else.
‘My 17-year-old, he doesn’t want to drive now because of this. My daughter, Lucy, passed her test last year, and she doesn’t want to drive either.’
Louise and Pete had separated three years before the crash and Louise said he had dropped off their son at home just minutes before he died.
She continued: ‘He had taken our 17-year-old son out for the day to watch the football.
‘He had dropped him back, and on the way back, about 10 minutes away, there was an accident. The police came round about half 10 in the evening.
‘You get a knock on the door and see two policemen, but it didn’t even enter my head that I’d be in that situation.
‘We were told what had happened, but they couldn’t give us a lot of detail at the time, only that both drivers had died at the scene. It’s been a rollercoaster with so many questions.
‘We’ve seen pictures of the car – the impact was so bad that the engine came out of the car and the bonnet flew off.
‘The other guy was coming from the Wimborne side, and Pete didn’t stand a chance basically – there have been a number of accidents there. ‘
Robbie Kenneth Diffey (pictured), 24, who was travelling at 92mph and under the influence of drugs and alcohol, crossed onto the wrong side of the road moments before the collision
The inquest on May 28, heard that police had found an open bottle of Peroni between Diffey’s legs after the crash.
Police also found a Snapchat video which showed Mr D’Arcy flashing his lights a second before impact.
Coroner Rachael Griffin concluded that Mr D’Arcy’s death was ‘unlawful’ and described Diffey’s driving as ‘audacious and abhorrent’.
Reacting to the inquest, Louise said the crash could have been ‘prevented.’
She added: ‘It was really upsetting – it could have been prevented if the police had more power to take licences off him when he got stopped.
‘He was stopped on October 25, and they didn’t get the blood test result until December 24, and the crash was on the 13th.
‘They need more powers and to be able to speed the process up. It’s just awful.’
