College Student Crushed by Her Own Car on Icy Driveway

A 21-year-old college student with dreams of becoming a social worker died in a horrifying freak accident after her own car rolled back on an icy, sloped driveway and pinned her against a wall, a coroner has found.

Eleisha Skinner, an aspiring social worker from Faversham, Kent, had just returned from Christmas break and was unloading her black Audi A1 outside her student accommodation in High Wycombe on January 4 when tragedy struck.

The Buckinghamshire New University student had reverse parked on the inclined driveway. As she stood behind the car removing items from the trunk, the vehicle suddenly “slipped” on the frozen surface and crushed her against a wall outside the property.

A fellow resident called emergency services after hearing a chilling “bang,” a woman “scream,” and desperate shouts of “get off, get off,” the inquest heard.

When the resident rushed outside, he found Skinner unconscious.

Senior coroner Crispin Butler told Buckinghamshire Coroner’s Court that police officers found the “sloped” driveway covered in ice after wintry weather, making it “very slippery.”

But despite the dangerous conditions, the driveway had not been salted or gritted. Even more troubling, Butler noted there were no railings, barriers or other protections in place to stop a vehicle from overrunning the edge of the drive.

Skinner was rushed to John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford but died four days later, on January 8.

A medical examination determined she died from anoxic brain injury due to asphyxia compression, meaning the pressure on her body prevented her from breathing properly.

The inquest heard that Skinner’s car was in neutral, had “no defects,” and the handbrake was “fully up.”

In his record of inquest, Butler wrote: “On balance, the incident appears to have occurred as a result of Eleisha’s vehicle slipping after having been parked with the handbrake on and dropping off the rear of the driveway, at a time when the boot was open and Eleisha was behind the car in the process of unloading.”

He added: “It was a very cold night with frost on frozen snow, which made the inclined drive very slippery.

“There were no railings or other barrier or obstacle to prevent a vehicle over-run from the drive, nor was there evidence that the driveway had been salted or gritted.”

The coroner is now issuing a prevention of future deaths report to the property owner, Howarth Property, warning that another person could die if safety concerns are not properly addressed.

The company has 56 days to respond with what action has been taken. The inquest heard that Howarth Property said professional inspections had deemed the driveway safe. Railings have reportedly since been installed.

Butler said he will write to the company so it can explain what has been done to reduce the risk at the property.

Skinner’s devastated family remembered her as a “kind, selfless and passionate young woman, who always put others before herself.”

They said her “fun, bubbly personality” made her “the life and soul wherever she went,” adding that she was the “kind of person who made the world brighter just by being in it.”

“We will carry her with us always, our beautiful Eleisha, forever loved, forever missed and never forgotten,” the family said in a statement read during the inquest.

Skinner had been crowned “Miss Faversham” in 2022 and later received the title of “Miss Congeniality.”

Buckinghamshire New University said she will be awarded a posthumous BSc with honors in social work.