An urgent warning has been issued after an elderly woman died following a fall on a damaged road. Beryl Barrett, 87, died on Christmas Day last year after the wheels on her walking frame got caught in the road six days prior.
She was using a pedestrian crossing on Church Street in Warsop, Nottinghamshire, when she fractured her hip falling. Beryl was taken to King's Mill Hospital in Sutton-in-Ashfield, where she died from bronchopneumonia.
Inquest findings
She was initially thought to have tripped on a pothole that had not been identified by inspectors 18 days before her fall, but the inquest heard there had been a misunderstanding about which road defect caused her fall.
Steve Walton, a pre-construction director at Via East Midlands, initially told the hearing that a pothole had been missed during a road inspection on December 1 because the inspector deemed it not deep enough to need filling in. After reviewing dashcam footage of the fall as part of his evidence, Mr Walton clarified that the pensioner had not tripped on that pothole but on a less severe road defect that did not require repair. He didn't, however, clarify what the road defect was.
Coroner's warning
Assistant coroner Nathanael Hartley concluded on Monday that Beryl's death was accidental, but warned there may be a risk of more fatal incidents. He also found that the defect in the road that caused Mrs Barrett to trip was not bad enough to require repair.
Mr Hartley concluded that the fall “more than minimally contributed to Beryl’s death because without it she would not have died when she did”. The coroner said he is concerned “there’s a future risk to others” and will issue a prevention of future deaths report to Nottinghamshire County Council, Via East Midlands and the UK Roads Liaison Group (UKRLG).
He added: “They do not appear to have a process in place that allows them to triage referrals alerting them to concerns about the state of the highways.”
