Petrol station death prompts elderly driving call

Howell Hughes was given a suspended sentence after killing Brian Griffiths in a crash

A police force should take up a scheme to test elderly drivers after a man was killed by a 91-year-old who crashed into him, a coroner has said.

Brian Griffiths was using a cashpoint at the Tesco Express store on Bryn Mor Road, Gowerton, Swansea, when he was crushed to death in September 2019.

An inquest heard the driver had crashed in the same place six months before.

Coroner Colin Phillips issued a section 28 prevention of future deaths report to South Wales Police.

• Is age a factor behind the wheel?

• Should older drivers be retested?

Mr Phillips, who is the acting senior coroner for Swansea and Neath Port Talbot said: "Dyfed Powys have a scheme that has been running for four years after an initial pilot and it has been used as a successful tool to take unsafe elderly drivers off the road."

Howell Hughes, the driver, was handed a 10-month suspended sentence for causing death by careless driving in May.

Brian Griffiths, 66, died three days after the crash

The inquest, which took place in October in Swansea, heard Hughes had crashed into a vehicle at the same forecourt six months before Mr Griffiths's death, but nobody was injured in that collision.

Police attended but did not take any further action.

Currently, all drivers over the age of 70 must renew their driving licence every three years.

Mr Phillips said other forces run elderly person driver referral schemes or fitness to drive schemes which can be used as an alternative to a prosecution for minor driving offences or collisions.