A BLACKPOOL nurse was killed and her friends injured when their car was crushed under a lamp post on their way home from a workmate's wedding.

Staff nurse Deborah Hencher, 22, of Mansfield Road, Blackpool, died from multiple injuries after being thrown from the front passenger seat when the Nissan Micra mounted a traffic island and hit the lamp post on South Promenade at 12.39 on Sunday morning (July 13).

Driver Catherine Blewett, 19, of Arundel Drive, Poulton, a nursing auxiliary who worked with Deborah, suffered a broken wrist, shock and bruising, while rear passenger Barry Hume, 24, of Princess Avenue, Poulton, sustained serious chest injuries.

Both had to be cut from the wreckage by the fire brigade at the scene near the junction with Squires Gate Lane.

Deborah's parents, Joseph and Norma Hencher, of Devonshire Road, her 26-year-old brother Stephen, and colleagues at Lytham's Clifton Hospital were devastated.

Mr Hencher said: "Debbie had worked at Clifton Hospital for two years. They had all been to a wedding of one of the auxiliary nurses on her ward."

Clifton Hospital, part of the Blackpool, Wyre and Fylde Community Health Trust, offered counselling and support to staff who, said chief executive Philip Scully, "were obviously very upset at the loss of a valued friend and colleague."

A police spokesman said the car had been travelling along Clifton Drive North on to South Promenade.

He added:"It is believed that, having negotiated the junction, the driver failed to negotiate a slight left-hand bend, then climbed a central traffic island and hit a lamp post which fell on the car.

"We understand that the passenger was thrown from the front seat and may not have been wearing a seat belt. She died from multiple injuries."

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