Swedish man who was hit and killed by van ‘may have looked the wrong way as he stepped in road’, inquest hears – Buckinhamshire Free Press

A Swedish man who was hit by a van and suffered a fatal head injury may have been looking the wrong way as he crossed the road to get into his daughters car, an inquest has heard.

Lars Roland Andersson who was known as Roland was visiting his family in Bourne End from his home in Malm in Sweden back in July when tragedy struck.

The 66-year-old was waiting in the driveway of his daughter Malin Storeys house on Hedsor Road, close to the junction with Ferry Lane, at around 8.50am on July 9, so she could pick him up and take him to her new property in Marlow.

Mrs Storey, who was driving a silver Mercedes, travelled past Flowerland and was heading down to her home and was indicating to turn right into her driveway while she waited for a white Ford Transit that was in the junction to pass.

In a statement read out at an inquest in Mr Anderssons death on Wednesday afternoon, Mrs Storey said: I approached the junction and stopped about two metres from our driveway, which is virtually on the junction. My father way standing waiting.

I saw a white van come from the Bourne End direction. I saw him indicating left to go onto Hedsor Road.

I had stopped to wait for the van but he thought I was waiting for him. My assumption is that he looked left because thats the way they look in Sweden and he walked right out in front of the van.

Mrs Storey watched in horror as her father was hit by the van and flew forward. He had suffered an obvious head injury.

Her statement added: I put him in the recovery position. I screamed at the driver to call an ambulance.

Everyone drives fast on the junction, but it doesnt matter how fast the van was going, my dad stepped out into the road.

He was just trying to be nice to save me trying to go into the driveway. He took a step out and it cost him his life.

Michael McCarthy, who was driving the van, said he was returning to Burnham from Bourne End after dropping his children off at school and was turning into Hedsor Road in the direction of Flowerland when he noticed a man on the pavement and a car on the other side of the road.

He said: The man was looking towards the car. I didnt see any indication that he was going to cross the road. I heard a thud. I stopped almost immediately.

Drivers and passengers from nearby vehicles stopped to help give Mr Andersson, a retired purchasing manager, CPR and South Central Ambulance and the Thames Valley Air Ambulance also attended but he tragically died of his injuries at the scene.

A postmortem found that Mr Andersson had suffered skull, rib and pelvic ring fractures, as well as a brain contusion a severe traumatic injury.

Thames Valley Police collision investigator Adrian White said the driver would have been doing a relatively low speed on the 30mph road and would have been too close to Mr Andersson to have been able to take any avoiding action.

He said: A low speed collision would ordinarily be survivable, but unfortunately the mechanics of the impact meant he sustained a significant head injury.

Malin said her father may have inadvertently looked left as he crossed the road as he would in his native Sweden. For whatever reason, it was an error of judgement and a collision was inevitable.

Senior coroner for Buckinghamshire Crispin Butler said: It certainly seems clear the van was very proximate to Roland when he stepped into the road.

It seems he was just trying to be helpful and cross the road to the vehicle he was going to get into.

The van stopped very, very quickly so speed wasnt the issue here. He just hasnt seen the van. The family have my sympathy here, its utterly tragic what has happened here.

He ruled Mr Andersson died as a result of a road traffic collision.

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Swedish man who was hit and killed by van 'may have looked the wrong way as he stepped in road', inquest hears - Buckinhamshire Free Press