An elderly driver who caused the death of her passenger failed an eye test following the crash, an inquest heard.

Grandmother Rita Cracknell from Mill Lane in Wateringbury died in hospital from her injuries nearly two weeks after the low-speed collision in Paddock Wood.

The 79-year-old and her close friend Eileen England, 83, had been out on a regular shopping trip when the black Mazda they were travelling in clipped a parked BMW on Maidstone Road, causing their car to spin round.

The impact caused the BMW to hit another car and left Mrs Cracknell with serious injuries.

She was taken to King’s College Hospital in London but died from respiratory failure as a result of several breaks to her back.

At Gravesend Old Town Hall today an inquest into her death heard from Kent Police forensic investigator PC Andrew Waghorn who concluded that the car had been travelling within the 30mph speed limit and that both women had been wearing seatbelts.

While there was a problem with the front near side tyre, he said it would have had no effect on the collision.

The investigation also found that the BMW was parked legally within a designated bay but that it was Mrs England’s “insufficient steering” that caused the crash, last November.

When police tested her eyesight it failed to meet the required standard for driving.

Senior coroner Christopher Sutton-Mattocks said: “Very sadly the car did not turn until at the last minute it swerved to the right.

"It failed to move out into the road sufficiently and collided with one car which collided with another and sadly the resultant injuries caused Mrs Cracknell’s death.”

He concluded that she died result of a road traffic collision.

Mrs Cracknell’s family described her as a woman with a “zest for life”.

Before retiring she had worked in the fashion industry and spent some 20 years at Eve’s ladies’ boutique in West Malling High Street.

Eileen England pleaded guilty to causing her friend’s death by careless or inconsiderate driving at a hearing at Maidstone Magistrates’ Court in July.

England, of Upper Mill, was disqualified from getting behind the wheel for a year and sentenced to 60 hours of unpaid work.

She told the court she had no intention to drive again, following the tragedy.