A MAN died after he was hit by a car as he crossed the entrance to Huntingdon railway station car park. An inquest in Huntingdon heard that the driver of the Honda CRV may have had her vision obscured by the thick A pillar on the car, the panel between

A MAN died after he was hit by a car as he crossed the entrance to Huntingdon railway station car park.

An inquest in Huntingdon heard that the driver of the Honda CRV may have had her vision obscured by the thick "A pillar" on the car, the panel between the front and side windows.

Coroner Colin Lattimore was told that the driver, Alison Elsome, 36, then living in Brampton, had been leaving the car park on the Brampton side of the flyover. She paused at the car park exit and looked right and left before setting off.

However, pedestrian Brian Claydon, 75, from Lodge Close, Huntingdon, had been waiting at the kerb and crossed in front of her car just as it began to move.

Cyclist Simon Lamble, from Somersham, told the inquest in a statement that Mr Claydon was about a foot from the kerb when he was hit square-on by the car.

Mr Claydon fell, hitting his head.

Mr Lamble said that although he heard a screech of brakes, he believed Mrs Elsome's car was going at less than 10mph. He said the driver got out of her car immediately and phoned for an ambulance while he went to help Mr Claydon and covered him with his jacket.

The accident happened on December 22 last year.

Mr Claydon, a retired hospital porter who had undergone operations on both eyes for cataracts and suffered a degree of deafness, died in hospital five days later.

In a statement read to the inquest, Mrs Elsome, who now lives in Yorkshire, said she had just dropped off her mother at the station and had driven to the exit.

She had stopped, looked right and left, but had not seen the Mr Claydon.

"Suddenly, I saw the pedestrian in front of the car. I stopped and ran round and there was a man lying in the road," she said.

The investigating officer, Pc John Blood, said: "Mrs Elsome did not see Mr Claydon and had failed to look for a final check before she set off."

He said her vision may have been obscured by the thick A pillar in the Honda.

A verdict of accidental death was recorded. Cambridgeshire police has confirmed there are no proceedings being taken against Mrs Elsome.