A CRASH which resulted in the death of a pensioner was unlikely to have been avoided, even if the driver involved was travelling at the speed limit, an inquest has heard.

Kenneth Hamblen, known as Ken, died on March 17 at Southampton General Hospital, three days after he was in a collision at Hill Farm Cross, where the A272 and A30 meets near Sutton Scotney.

The 86-year-old, who died from a severe chest injury, was driving his Vauxhall Meriva along the A272 before he stopped at the give way line, and “as if he was uncertain” pulled out onto the A30 and into the path of a Mercedes Sprinter van which tried to swerve around him.

While forensic investigator Michaela Kerr told the inquest the van was travelling at 60mph, above the 50mph speed limit for his vehicle type, the crash was likely to have still taken place although it cannot be known if the same injuries would have been sustained.

PC Kerr said: “It was two seconds from movement to point of collision, giving less than a second for the Sprinter driver [to react].

“He was 10mph above the speed limit for his vehicle, if travelling 50mph it is likely he would have struck the Meriva if [he] reacted the same.

“In my opinion the primary cause of the collision was Mr Hamblen’s decision to come out in the high traffic road.”

Mr Hamblen was returning to his Blendon Drive home in Andover, after attending a medical appointment in Winchester.

Son Colin Hamblen said while his father was elderly, he was “fit, independent and self sufficient,” and was not told to stop driving by the DVLA.

Eyewitnesses driving in the area at the time of the crash said they knew to be “careful” at the junction due to previous incidents.

Despite this, attending officer PC Haithum Zubaidi from Whitchurch Police Station said no changes were to be made to the junction as a result of the fatality, and “numerous indicators” were already in place to indicate the “complexity of the junction.”

Senior coroner Graham Short concluded Mr Hamblen’s death was a result of a road traffic collision.

He said: “I have no way of knowing whether Ken saw the van and misjudged its speed or failed to see it or registered its presence at all.

“The van was exceeding the speed as it came to the junction, if he had been travelling at speed limit and if driver had taken the same action has Mr Roberts in this case did, it does mean there would still be a collision.

“I do find in the second or so before the collision Mr Roberts did react and I think I understand entirely why he did what he did taking avoiding action.

“The evidence therefore showed he [Mr Hamblen] pulled out into the approaching van and suffered injuries as a result of that collision.

“He died three days later as a result of those injuries, I find that they were the direct result of that collision.”