Dudley pensioner died after breaking ankle on bus
A pensioner died after breaking her ankle when the bus she was travelling on was forced to brake sharply to avoid crashing into a car that was being driven dangerously, an inquest heard.
Janice Reed, from Brierley Hill, had been travelling on the 287 bus service between her home town and Merry Hill shopping centre when she was thrown from her seat as it made an emergency stop.
The driver had been forced to slam on the brakes to avoid hitting a silver Renault Scenic, an inquest at Smethwick Council House heard yesterday. The 71-year-old refused to have an ambulance called and continued on with her journey on September 23 before returning to her home in Woods Lane.
She was later taken to hospital where it was discovered she had badly broken her ankle and later died of a pulmonary embolism.
Giving evidence at the hearing, bus driver Anthony Coulson said: "I had closed the door, checked my mirrors, signalled and begun to pull out. I couldn't see anything in my mirrors when I pulled away.
"In my peripheral vision I saw a car coming alongside the bus and it turned left in front of me. It was less than a metre away and I was still accelerating. To prevent a collision I braked hard – so hard that it lifted me out of my seat momentarily."
Soon after coming to a stop the 58-year-old turned his attention to passengers and saw Mrs Reed on the floor. He and another passenger helped her back to her seat and checked she was ok. I asked her several times if she was ok and offered to call an ambulance, but she insisted I carried on and said her husband was waiting for her at her stop," he added.
Following her death in Russells Hall Hospital on October 10 last year, police searched the area for a car matching the description but could only find one that matched that belonged to a woman who was at work at the time of the accident.
Senior Coroner for the Black Country Robin Balmain said: "What we have is a dangerous driver that causes Mr Coulson to brake sharply causing Mrs Reed to fall to the floor. There seems no chance of them ever being found."
He concluded an accidental cause of death as a result of a pulmonary embolism due to the traumatic fracture of her right ankle.
Speaking afterwards, her daughter Susan Cox, said: "This has left a massive hole in our lives. She was a wonderful women and the best mum anyone could have asked for. She is missed by a lot of people." Her husband Frank, 75, added: "We are looking for justice. We would like whoever is responsible to come forward. What they have done is so dangerous and had such a consequence on our family."
