A driver who fatally struck a university student after ploughing into a stationary car on a petrol station forecourt at up to 51mph has been jailed for four years and three months.
Fiona Phippen, 45, drove through the service station without braking just 38 seconds after finishing a six-minute WhatsApp video call, the court was told.
CCTV shown in court captured the moment Phippen’s Nissan Qashqai slammed into 20-year-old Urwah Tanveer, who was standing beside her family’s parked Mercedes.
About ten minutes after the crash, Phippen sent a text message to a friend claiming that her brakes had failed.
She later suggested her cruise control may have malfunctioned and said a red car had forced her into the slip lane, but investigators found no mechanical problems with her vehicle.
Collision experts concluded that her Nissan was still travelling between 41mph and 51mph as it moved through the service station on the A1 near Grantham, Lincolnshire, before hitting the parked Mercedes.
Lincoln Crown Court heard the collision occurred just weeks before Ms Tanveer was due to graduate from Queen Mary’s University after earning a 2.1 in Psychology.
The voluntary charity worker, from London, suffered catastrophic injuries and died in hospital a day after the crash on the Foston Services forecourt.
Fiona Phippen careered through the service station without braking just 38 seconds after ending a six-minute WhatsApp video call
Her grandmother, Samina Idris, 83, who had remained inside the Mercedes, was also seriously injured in the impact which happened at 12.50pm on 29 June 2024.
The collision was witnessed by Ms Tanveer’s mother, Nahail Idris, who was driving the family north to visit friends, and her sister, Meezan Tanveer, who had both left the Mercedes to visit the forecourt shop.
Footage from the petrol station also showed the victim’s brother, Musa Tanveer, dramatically jumping out of the way of Phippen’s approaching car.
Jon Dee, prosecuting, told the court: ‘The car is obviously out of control.’
Ms Tanveer’s mother, an NHS worker, held up a picture of her daughter as she directly addressed Phippen during her victim impact statement.
She described having to climb over the destroyed 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 explained.
‘Having subsequently seen the video footage I now realise just how close Phippen came to killing two of my children.’
Directly looking at Phippen, she added. ‘This is my life sentence.’
In her impact statement, Ms Tanveer’s grandmother described how the crash had destroyed her own health and family.
‘I cannot be left alone,’ she explained. ‘I am not the same person.’
She added: ‘No child should die before her parents, never mind her grandparents.’
The court heard Phippen was also driving northbound up the A1 from her home in Cambridgeshire and had her mobile phone in a dashboard holder.
Investigations showed Phippen had been on a WhatsApp video call which ended 38 seconds before the collision and 32 seconds before her car left the A1 and entered the service station slip road.
Passing sentence Judge Simon Hirst said he was satisfied Phippen was not concentrating properly, most probably because of the call.
Judge Hirst told Phippen: ‘That phone call ended 38 seconds before the collision and 32 seconds before you left the A1.’
‘It follows you had little over half a minute to assess and decide what to do,’ Judge Hirst added.
‘It is plain you had insufficient awareness of what was going on around you on the A1.’
Phippen, of Church Close, Great Wilbraham, Cambridgeshire, admitted causing death by dangerous driving.
She also pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
Phippen was also banned from driving for seven years and six weeks and must take an extended retest.
In mitigation the court heard Phippen, a mother of two, had no previous convictions and a clean driving licence.
John McNally, defending, accepted it was clear Phippen did not brake or turn the cruise control off after steering off the A1 onto the slip road to avoid the red car.
‘No one has been able to find that red car or the driver,’ Mr McNally stressed.
‘It wasn’t meant. A good woman, a good mother set off that day.’
Phippen told police she regularly drove with the cruise control engaged, and in the moments following the collision claimed that it had failed to turn off despite her braking.
She also stated that she thought she had turned into the slip road due to a vehicle ahead of her slowing down.
The Nissan’s cruise control and braking systems were fully examined after the collision and found to be operating correctly, as were the car’s brakes.
The investigation concluded that Phippen was confronted with a set of circumstances as a result of failing to pay proper attention to the road ahead, resulting in a cognitive overload and failing to respond correctly to the developing scenario that she had instigated.
Detective Sergeant Emma Ward, from our Serious Collision Investigation Unit, said: ‘This collision was due to the inattention of Phippen to the road ahead and what was happening around her. When circumstances changed, she did not have the situational awareness to react correctly or appropriately.
‘The importance of concentration, particularly on fast roads, cannot be overstated.
‘Phippen’s lack of attention has tragically cost Urwah Tanveer her life and seriously injured Ms Idris. This was all wholly avoidable, and family and friends are left to cope with the devastating impact that this collision has had on them.
‘Time and time again we see people thinking that they can undertake multiple tasks whilst driving. The reality is that driving is a complex task that requires your full attention.
‘This has been clearly shown in this case, and if concentration had been properly applied, then this family would not be grieving the loss of their daughter Urwah and Ms Idris would not be living with the painful injuries she sustained that day in addition to the loss of her granddaughter.’
