A 59-year-old Evesham lorry driver died in hospital three weeks after he was crushed by a 23-tonne tipper lorry that had rolled out of control, an inquest heard on Tuesday.

Cyril Bedenham of Montfort Street, Evesham, died on April 24 this year at Warwick Hospital as a result of complications caused by an infection.

Mr Bedenham, who worked at UK Plant and Haulage's yard at Wadborough, near Pershore, had suffered serious injuries on March 30 after his lorry had broken down on the A46 near Fulbrook.

The Leamington Spa inquest heard police evidence that the lorry's parking brake was defective and that UK Plant and Haulage had been summoned to appear in court on the matter.

The inquest heard that Mr Bedenham summoned assistance after his vehicle broke down.

Paul Shaw, of Victoria Gardens, Warley, said that after he replaced an air brake pipe that had a hole in it, he returned to his van, which was parked in front of the lorry. He then heard the lorry rolling towards him.

"Mr Bedenham was trying to stop the vehicle. He was putting his hands up trying to stop the vehicle from rolling," said Mr Shaw. "He was pushing against it."

Mr Shaw jumped into his van to move it out of the way and as he did so he felt an impact at the back.

Mr Bedenham was stumbling about and could not talk, said Mr Shaw.

PC Keith Jaggard of the road policing unit at Rugby told the inquest that the parking brake on the lorry did not work properly. "You could pull parking brake on and think it was on when it wasn't," said PC Jaggard.

His comments were supported by a statement by PC George Millward that was read to the inquest. In it he said: "The park brake should automatically drop into the anchor well. This didn't always happen."

Coroner Michael Coker recorded a verdict of accidental death.