Overview

• Dashcam footage showed McFarland’s Fiat Punto rotating into the opposite carriageway on the A66 near Keswick before a head-on collision with an ambulance.
• Cumbria Police found no signs of intoxication, distraction, or medical episode at the wheel but recorded a potential air leak from the car’s rear offside tyre.
• Paramedic Abigail Routledge and her colleague sustained minor injuries as they rendered aid, and McFarland was pronounced dead at the scene.
• McFarland, a 30-year-old travel advisor and outdoor enthusiast, had just returned from a three-week trip to the Himalayas and Everest Base Camp.
• The inquest highlighted the impact of mechanical factors in collisions on the Lake District’s winding tourist routes.