Fatal road accident, Seaton 1978

[arthurk]

Might it be worth trying the Western Gazette? It's published in Yeovil, but I think it circulates over quite a wide area, which may well include east Devon.

Also, unless I missed it, I don't think you said whether Kevin lived in Seaton or was merely visiting. If the latter, it would be a good idea to check papers from where he lived as well.

Arthur

[thewideeyedowl]

Hi again, Martin..

I'm so sorry that - as yet - you have not been able to make any real progress with finding out about this sad accident. But do not give up!

Ken_R suggested the Coroner's Office. If records have been retained, and if they were prepared to release them to you, you would finally be able to find out what happened (in dry official wording).

Devon County Highways should hold some information about RTAs, so it really would be worth investigating through them - make initial contact via their website (it will be devon.gov.uk or something like that). They might have a record of the exact location of the accident, the time, and its nature, e.g. collision between vehicles or vehicle/pedestrian.

You could contact BBC Devon to find out if they have any record of the accident as a news item in late July 1978. (Probably not, but you won't know if you don't ask...)

If you can get the date and the time of the accident, then you can try to research the weather conditions for the area on that day. It takes some doing, but is possible. (I managed to find out what the weather was like when a grandfather was born in the West Riding in 1878 - deep snow seems to have been the likely reason why his birth registration was delayed.) The weather might have contributed in some way to the accident...

Try looking in the Welsh newspaper archive (info on this in the Wales forum), because news items get syndicated. You just never know what you might find or where you might find it.

And, finally, you could possibly contact Ted Gosling, who is a local historian and the curator of Seaton Museum. (Just run a search for Seaton Museum and then navigate to Contact Us.). He is very very knowledgeable and might be able to make some more suggestions.

Have now exhausted my ideas, so off to roost.

Owl