OAP DIED AFTER CRASH ON ROAD NEAR HER HOME
84-year-old’s car found down embankment
A PENSIONER died in a crash after losing control of her car on a road she had campaigned to make safer.
Isobel Hughes’ vehicle went down an embankment and hit multiple trees as she careered through a woodland near her home in Madeley Heath.
An inquest into the death heard the 84-year-old’s white Suzuki was discovered on its roof by a passerby who called an ambulance.
Police found Isobel unconscious but alive in the vehicle, with a small amount of blood which they suspected was from a nosebleed.
She had suffered head injuries and was strapped upside down with the seatbelt holding her in place. Firefighters removed Isobel from the wreckage as they waited for the paramedics to arrive.
But she was pronounced dead at the scene near the junction between Heighley Castle Way - where she lived - and the A531 close to Bowsey Wood on the morning of October 1 last year. She had suffered a cardiac arrest.
Friends of Isobel told the inquest that she had broken her arm in 2020 and had never fully recovered. In a statement read out at the hearing,
Carol Hulse, who had known Isobel’s for 15 years, said: “I knew she had nerve damage to her fingers and thumb and was taking medication for it.
“She was also taking medication for diabetes, which she’d said sometimes make her pass out.
“I believe the crash must have happened the night before she was found [September 30 2023] because she’d never get up before 9.30am.
“She once drove into a hedge whilst I was in the car and I told her she needed to sort her driving out and I refused to get in the car with her again.”
During the hearing, Isobel was described as someone who would be remembered for her personality and charity work. She had volunteered as a first responder and had raised thousands of pounds for the Madeley community, as well as charities including the air ambulance.
Another friend, Suzanne Rigby, said in her statement that Isobel was ‘dedicated to the community’. She added: “I believe the accident happened on the night before October 1. She knows the road and the area well and she always drove extremely slowly.”
Coroner Daniel Howe said: “I find it probable that Isobel died on September 30 2023. The most likely explanation is that Isobel had a medical episode, but it is not probable because it was not recorded in the post mortem.
“I find that on October 1 2023, Isobel was discovered injured in a heavily damaged vehicle in the woodland near the junction between Heighley Castle Way and the A531. My short form conclusion is a road traffic collision.”