Woman dies after crash

Nicola Hollingmode, of Greenslade Grove, died in the early hours of yesterday after her parents Alan and Carol made the heart-breaking decision to turn off her life support machine.

Nicola, who played for Wednesfield Ladies Football Club, Cannock Ladies team and worked part-time at Rugeley Leisure Centre, was returning home from a friend's in Birmingham when the accident happened on the A38 near Weeford Island at 10.50pm Sunday.

She was driving a Y-registration Peugeot 206 on the northbound carriageway when the car left the road and landed upside down in a ditch. It is not believed any other cars were involved.

Nicola was taken to Selly Oak Hospital in Birmingham and underwent surgery on Monday morning but doctors said she would not be able to survive. Her life support machine was turned off on Monday.

Nicola had two sisters, Kelly, 23, and Louise, 26, who are both nurses, and one brother, Carl, who is 18.

Her grandad James Hollingmode, of Brooklands Road, Chadsmoor, said: "It is bad enough at any time of the year, but just before Christmas is just terrible. Alan and Carol, and the whole family, are absolutely devastated."

Nicola's dad Alan, of Attlee Crescent, Rugeley, said: "She was my girl. She lived with me and we were really close. She was loved by everybody and was such a lovely girl.

"Christmas is gone now for us. It will never be the same again now."

The funeral is being held at Stafford Crematorium on December 28 at 10am.

By Kate Hughes