Heather Hardcastle dies following collision on M1

Heather Hardcastle was one of two people from York and North Yorkshire who died over the weekend as a result of road accidents. The second person was a motorcyclist who died on the Isle of Man.

Ms Hardcastle was a passenger in an Audi travelling north on the M1 in Nottinghamshire late on Thursday night when it collided with a lorry.

Both she and the driver of the car were rushed by ambulance to Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham.

There they were taken to intensive care, where the driver remained in a critical condition yesterday. Ms Hardcastle died on Saturday morning, two days after the accident.

Messages of sympathy and support for her children and her partner have been posted on The Press’s website.

Members of her family at her home address in Tostig Avenue, off Beckfield Lane, Acomb, were too distressed to speak about the tragedy.

Nottinghamshire Police are looking for two other drivers to come forward and help them investigate the cause of the accident, which happened on the M1 at Trowell, between junctions 25 and 26 on the northbound carriageway at about 11.15pm on Thursday.

The drivers both pulled over on to the hard shoulder in front of the lorry to offer assistance.

Detective Constable Katie Stokes of Nottinghamshire Police urged them to phone her on 0300 300 99 99, ext 816 2225 or phone Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

A Nottinghamshire Police spokesman said the lorry driver had been uninjured in the crash.

The scene of the accident was on a stretch of the M1 which had recently been widened from three lanes to four and which includes Trowell Service Station.

The motorbiker, who was among thousands who journeyed to the Isle of Man for the TT races last week and over the weekend, was named as Anthony Capstick, aged 36, of Skipton.

He was fatally injured in a crash at Grahams Memorial on the island’s Mountain Road on Friday afternoon.

He was taken to Nobles Hospital in Douglas, but died shortly afterwards.