NO action is to be taken against a Dudley driver who knocked down a Kingswinford pensioner on a hospital car park, an inquest has been told.

Ivan Tranter, of Wellington Close, Kingswinford, died three weeks after he was hit by a car driven by Pamela Broadbent as she reversed into a parking space outside Russells Hall Hospital.

And an inquest, held at Sandwell Coroners Court, Smethwick, today (Friday March 18), concluded he died of injuries suffered in a road traffic collision.

Mr Tranter had been returning to his car after visiting the Dudley hospital when the tragedy happened at about 11am on November 3, 2015.

The 83-year-old received treatment for a minor head injury and after being discharged from the hospital he was taken to Hillcroft Nursing Home, Wordsley.

But his condition deteriorated so he was taken back to Russells Hall before being transferred to Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital where he died on November 27 as a result of his injuries.

The court, however, was told the Crown Prosecution Service does not intend to take any criminal action against Mrs Broadbent as there was insufficient evidence to prove her driving was careless.

PC Mark Crozier, from West Midlands Police's Collision Investigation Unit, said there had been no damage to the car as the collision occurred at such a slow speed and he said from looking at CCTV footage it was “likely” Mr Tranter would have been in Mrs Broadbent’s blind spot as she was reversing.

He added: “It is more than possible she would have seen him but not registered him as a potential threat or hazard.

“But it would be almost certain that as Mrs Broadbent looked over her left shoulder, she created such a wide blind spot that Mr Tranter would have been impossible to be seen.”

Mrs Broadbent, of Hillmeads Drive, Dudley, whose husband Frederick was a front seat passenger in the car at the time of the collision, said she "didn't see Mr Tranter at any point".

She told the hearing: “The car park was very full and I couldn’t see an empty space. My husband said a red van was about to pull out.

“I moved down to allow him the room to come round me. I then checked over my right and left shoulders to make sure there were no cars coming.

“As I reversed I was concentrating on my left and as far as I was concerned the road was safe.”

She added: "I started to reverse back and then I heard this noise."

Senior Black Country coroner Zafar Siddique concluded: “Having considered all the evidence I am going to conclude on the balance of probabilities that it was a death by road traffic collision.”

Following the verdict - Mr Tranter's son-in-law Kevin Russell said it was “unbelievable” that Mrs Broadbent would not have seen his father-in-law when reversing.

He said: “I cannot believe that they couldn’t have seen him. There was no other person there. There were cars parking either side and how they couldn’t see him I just don’t know."

Mr Russell told the News his wife Christine had been unable to attend the hearing as she was "so upset" about losing her father whom he described as "very loyal to his family".

He added: “It is tragic and deeply devastating, especially for my wife as an only child.

“My mother-in-law has been in a home for quite a while now, but Ivan lived opposite us in a bungalow. It is strange looking into the window and not seeing him there. He was not just my father in law, but my best friend.”