A Boldover man died on Sunday after being involved in a road rage incident whilst queuing for the local refuse site.
During the scuffle Harry Hampton, 64, suffered a broken arm and a cracked rib. His partner, Barbara Richards, 56, drove him to hospital but he later died of heart failure.
Police are appealing for witnesses to the incident which took place around lunchtime on Sunday, and are also making a direct appeal for the other driver involved to come forward. He is believed to have been driving a silver BMW and is described as a white man in his forties, around 5ft 7", stocky build, clean shaven and possibly wearing glasses.
Detective Inspector Helen Havers of Wishingshire police said, "There was a very long queue of cars and there must be several people who saw what happened."
The couple were clearing unwanted possessions as Mr. Hampton was preparing to move into Ms. Richards house in nearby Broxham. A police spokeswoman said Ms. Richards is "absolutely distraught".
Mr Hampton's neighbour Susan Witchard (67) said: "Harry was an extremely good friend and neighbour. He was a real gentleman and used to put my rubbish out for me every week. He wouldn't hurt a fly.
"Harry and Barbara were so happy together. They both had grown-up children from previous relationships and were excited about starting a new life together. I'm devastated."
Toby Norris, a consultant clinical psychologist at Daring Hospital, Mornbury, said: "Outbursts known as 'road rage' and 'queue rage' seem to be growing as life gets more crowded. People are more likely to become angry when they feel frustrated or restrained and may perceive themselves to have been attacked or insulted regardless of whether someone has innocently or deliberately jump a queue.
"Even in Wishingshire these types of incident are escalating as the county becomes more densely populated," he added.
I found this exercise a good lesson in finding the relevant information, knowing what to leave out and then condensing this information into a news story. I used the experts' opinion quotes to give the story some psycological background as to why this may have happened and it may also have made people think more about their own reaction in a similar situation.
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1 comment:
Structure: Very well structured and tightly written.
Quotes: You have used these to good effect and punctuated them appropriately, although you have used two styles for this. Stick to one.
Audience: Appropriately written for local readers.
Accuracy: This has been carefully written with reference to the known facts.
You might have put inverted commas around the words ‘road rage’ as you have identified the source of this comment. Good
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