AN ELDERLY Winchester man who died after slamming his car into a lamp post had not renewed his driving licence, an inquest heard.

Albert Bartram Williams, 86, who had Alzheimer's and early cataracts in both eyes, had to apply to the DVLA for licence renewal every three years. He decided not to in 2018 due to illness.

But Winchester Coroner's Court heard how the Clifton Road resident would still park the car for his wife when she returned home.

On August 27 2019, he attempted to park the automatic Peugeot 107 in North View but accelerated forwards, hitting two parked vehicles before the lamp post. Mr Williams was not wearing his glasses.

His wife Joanne Smith-Williams said: "I am terrible at parking and he could always do it for me. His sight was perfectly good enough for it.

"On the day he manoeuvred beautifully. But then he went very fast up the road."

Mr Williams was pronounced dead at the scene.

A post mortem report by consultant pathologist Dr Balvinder Shoker says Mr Williams suffered fractures to the cervical spine.

Contributing factors were congestive cardiac failure and ischemic heart disease.

Winchester resident Richard Scott who witnessed the crash provided a statement to the coroner's court.

It said: "I saw a red car manoeuvring with a lady stood beside instructing the driver what to do. I watched the driver failing for three to five minutes and it seemed he had no cognisance with what he was being asked to do.

"He seemed so far removed from what you'd consider to be a competent car driver so I thought I needed to say something. Considering my words carefully, I went over to the lady and said 'I don't think that man should be driving'.

"To my surprise, she said 'no he shouldn't'. The driver then accelerated down North View with the car door open."

Mrs Smith-Williams said parts of Mr Scott's evidence were "complete nonsense".

In a tribute to her husband, she said: "He was wonderful, fit, strong and a lovely man. His short term memory had gone but he always wanted to do things for me."

Area coroner Jason Pegg concluded as death by RTC.

He said: "Poor eyesight and other illnesses contributed to this death."

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