Six years after surviving crash, man dies after being knocked down on same road
A former table tennis champion died after being hit by a car – more than six years after he survived a car crash on the same stretch of road.
Russell Nicholls was hit by a car at about 5.25am on Saturday morning as he crossed over the A442 Bridgnorth to Kidderminster road.
Mr Nicholls lived in Quatford, near Bridgnorth, and was arriving home from a night out when the accident happened near to his home.
It is believed Mr Nicholls took a taxi home from Shrewsbury after a night out which dropped him off near to his house.
He was hit by the Volkswagen Bora car as he crossed the road, suffered multiple injuries and was pronounced dead by paramedics at the scene.
Mr Nicholls, who was a partner in his father Paul's business A P Contracts heating engineers, has spent the last six-and-a-half years recovering from serious injuries he suffered in a horrific car crash on the same road. He was 17 at the time of the incident and was in a coma for three weeks and had to go though eight operations.
His father said: "It is a traumatic shock. He left his car in Shrewsbury, we don't know any more than that. They dropped him off over the road and he walked across the road."
His mother Annette said: "We never expected him to be as good as he was after the accident. He had a fantastic fight and we worked hard to get him back." Mrs Nicholls said her son had gone out on Friday with a friend from Headway, a charitable group in Shrewsbury for people with head injuries.
"He was the kindest, most caring, genuine person to meet," she added. Mr Nicholls attended St Mary's Primary School and Oldbury Wells School, both in Bridgnorth, and leaves two brothers Damien, 22, and Ashley, 27.
He was a promising table tennis player before the first accident being county champion as a teenager. His mother is a secretary for Wolverhampton's Woodfield Table Tennis Club.
Inspector Mark Ashford, of West Mercia Police, said: "A beige Volkswagon Bora car was involved in an incident with a 24-year-old male pedestrian. No-one has been arrested.
Police are continuing to investigate and any witnesses are asked to call police on 101.
