A pensioner died after his car clipped a kerb, causing him to swerve onto the other side of the road, hit another vehicle and crash into a hedge, an inquest has heard.

Alan Drewett was driving towards his home in Grebe Crescent, Hythe, after visiting his wife in a care home in Ashford on the evening of February 15.

While on the A261 London Road, his Citroen C4 clipped the kerb just before 7pm and he swerved onto the opposite carriageway, towards oncoming traffic.

A driver coming the other way moved to the left to try and avoid Mr Drewett, who hit the rear of the other vehicle, before veering onto a grass verge, where he came to a stop near some undergrowth.

An inquest at the Archbishop's Palace in Maidstone was told there was minimal damage to the 78-year-old's car, despite him likely driving at a speed of between 30 and 35mph.

One witness reported seeing the driver vomit after the crash as a number of bystanders helped get him out the car and attempt CPR before paramedics arrived at around 7pm.

"The only conclusion is that this death was due to the road traffic collision, and not natural causes" - Katrina Hepburn

Mr Drewett, a retired bookbinder, was pronounced dead just before 8pm, with a post-mortem recording the cause of death as fractured ribs and chest compression.

Pathologists said his heart had become enlarged due to aortic stenosis, a narrowing of the valve.

It was suggested the most likely scenario was that the impact sustained when Mr Drewett lost control of the car caused him to sustain the fractures and compression, and that a feeling of asphyxia caused vomiting and arrhythmia of the heart - known as an irregular heartbeat.

Assistant coroner Katrina Hepburn told the inquest: "The only conclusion is that this death was due to the road traffic collision, and not natural causes.

"I don't find that this was a heart attack behind the wheel."

Addressing the family, she added: "Please accept my sincere condolences and my thanks for you attending."

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