Four men died in separate crashes during a black day on the roads of Essex.

In the early hours of Friday morning, Richard Claydon, 33, from Mountfitchet Road, Stansted Mountfitchet, died in an accident at Matching Green, near Harlow.

Shortly after 2pm, Stanway pensioner Arthur Alecock, 88, died in a three car pile up at Althorne.

Ambulance crews had got the man out of the wreckage and battled for 25 minutes to save him but were unsuccessful.

Mr Alecock had been driving a silver Peugeot which had just turned on to the B1018 Southminster Road from Dairy Road when it was in collision with a Ford Focus travelling towards Latchingdon. There was a further collision with a stationary BMW.

His 85-year-old wife, Vera, who was sitting in the rear seat of the Peugeot, was flown by air ambulance to Broomfield Hospital, Chelmsford, with serious back injuries.

The woman driver of the Ford Focus, from Rayleigh, received only minor injuries and the BMW driver escaped unharmed.

Police are asking any witnesses to contact Chelmsford road policing unit on 01245 452918.

Driver Alan Hoy, 58, of East Mersea, died in a crash in East Mersea at midnight on Friday.

An 18 year old scooter rider from Basildon, who has not been named, died when his scooter hit a tree after being in collision with a car at London Road Benfleet, shortly after 6pm the same day.

Last year, 116 people died on Essex roads, including 13 in December.

By Sunday night, the death toll on the county's roads this year stood at 101, as a 75-year-old Halstead pedestrian died after an accident in the town.

The man, who has not yet been named, was crossing Halstead High Street near the library at around 9.15 on Sunday morning.

He was involved in a collision with an Astra van driven by a 42-year-old man, also from Halstead.

Published Thursday December 23, 2004

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