A senior inspector has admitted that staff in the police control room made a wrong decision on the morning of a fatal crash that killed two pensioners.
Inspector Andrew Harrison was speaking at the inquest into the deaths of Dennis Riley, 81, and Patsy Orange, 73, who died after the minibus they were travelling in was involved in a pile-up on the A46 at Six Hills, near Melton.
In the hours before the fatal crash, police had been dealing with another driver who had crashed his Porsche, suffering minor injuries.
Pcsos Laura Payne and Andrea Kemp, who were left alone at the scene after the first crash, were overseeing the recovery operation of the Porsche when the pile-up occurred.
Yesterday, Inspector Harrison said his staff in the control room at Enderby Force Headquarters were wrong to leave the recovery operation to two Pcsos and a uniformed officer should have been there.
Commenting on his control room staff, he said: "They were clearly misguided in allowing [the two Pcsos] to stay at the scene. With hindsight that was the wrong decision."
The Pcsos themselves have given evidence admitting they did not know how to properly use cones and signs to adequately close off a lane of a busy dual-carriageway like the A46 and that they felt uncomfortable doing it.
The inquest has also heard the control room was unaware the two Pcsos were attempting to close a lane of the A46 during the recovery of the Porsche, which they did by parking their panda car across the lane.
A message from control to the Pcsos stated the tow truck firm were "just asking for you to be there when they remove it."
Insp Harrison said yesterday police officers at the scene earlier and the Pcsos themselves should have raised concerns to the police control staff.
He said: "There were people who should have stopped the show."
The crash happened at about 11.50am on August 14, 2007.
Witnesses have told the inquest how a van either braked hard in the fast lane or swerved into the fast lane at the scene of the recovery operation.
A coach belonging to the Skylarks respite care centre in Nottingham hit the back of the van and then a minibus, smashed into the coach, before being hit from behind by another vehicle.
The two people who died, both from Yorkshire, were on the minibus.
The inquest continues.
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