A SECOND World War veteran died after his electric mobility buggy shot backwards into the road outside his Evesham home and fell on its side, an inquest heard.

Cotswold coroner Lester Maddrell was told that David White forgot his buggy was on the highest speed setting when he thumbed the reverse control.

As 89-year-old Mr White's horrified wife, Olive, looked on, the electric scooter shot backwards, travelled across a patch of grass and toppled on to its side as it dropped down a kerb into the road.

The fall on August 12 fractured six of Mr White's ribs and he was taken to Cheltenham General Hospital where he died two days later.

"He had been out on the scooter earlier in the day to go to the Evesham bypass, which is about two miles away," said Mrs White in a statement.

"When he came back I was gardening at the top of our path. We spoke and I asked him to move. He placed his thumb on the reverse button then went across the pavement and fell off."

Eighth Army

Rushing to her husband's aid, Mrs White found he still had the four wheeler buggy- capable of travelling at up to 4mph, the highest setting.

With the help of neighbours she managed to put her husband back into the scooter and he insisted on driving it into the house.

He was later taken to hospital by ambulance.

A veteran who fought with the British Eighth Army from Tobruk, through Italy and into Germany, Mr White, of Coombe Field Road, Wickhamford, suffered from poor health. He had heart and respiratory difficulties and a number of hip problems.

Pathologist Dr Jonathan Christie Brown, who carried out the post mortem, said Mr White's health problems would automatically have hindered his recovery.

"Six ribs on his left side were fractured," he said. "The cause of death is acute obstructive pulmonary disease caused by these fractures."

After hearing that the electric buggy had no defects, the coroner recorded a verdict of accidental death.