The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
An elderly pedestrian who died six days after being knocked down by a bus as he crossed the road did not appear to look its way.
Harold Fisher (93) stepped out into Winfrey Avenue, Spalding, with the single-decker passenger bus just feet away.
An inquest on Tuesday (Feb 21) heard that the Shaws of Maxey driver had “little or no time” to brake or swerve. Anthony Barnes did manage to steer the service bus to the right but it still struck Mr Fisher a glancing blow.
The pensioner suffered a chest injury and also a blow to his head, probably from hitting the kerb.
He had been making his way home to West Elloe Avenue from Sainsbury’s in Holland Market when the tragedy happened on August 23 last year. The inquest heard that it was a bright day, with good visibility.
In a statement read by coroner Paul Cooper, Mr Barnes said he had been slowing to about 10-15mph, ready to turn left into the bus station entrance nearest Kings Road.
He hadn’t noticed Mr Fisher, who had emerged on to the pavement from between parked cars on the bus station car park, until he stepped into the road.
Mr Barnes said: “It all happened so quickly.
“I remember a passenger saying ‘I can’t believe he [Mr Fisher] has done that’.”
Bus passenger Johanna Collins had seen Mr Fisher, whom she described as “seeming to be on a mission and looking straight ahead”.
She added: “I couldn’t believe what had happened. He didn’t seem to see or hear the bus coming.”
Mr Fisher was taken to Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham where staff soon diagnosed his injuries as “unsurvivable”. He died on August 29.
Police crash investigator Pc Stewart Cooke said: “The bus should have been easily visible to Mr Fisher; similarly, Mr Fisher should have been visible to the bus.”
He added: “It may be that [Mr Fisher] has seen a reduction in speed [of the bus] and believed he could cross in front of it without incident.”
The coroner’s conclusion on Mr Fisher’s death was “accident”.
