A SECOND World War veteran died after his electric buggy shot backwards into the road outside his Evesham home and fell on its side, an inquest heard.

Cotswold coroner Lester Maddrell was told David White forgot his buggy was on the highest speed when he thumbed the reverse control.

As 89-year-old Mr White's horrified wife, Olive, looked on, the electric scooter shot backwards, travelled across a patch of grass and toppled onto its side as it dropped down the kerb into the road.

The fall, on Monday, August 12, fractured six of Mr White's ribs and he was taken to Cheltenham General hospital where he died.

A veteran who fought with the British Eighth Army from Tobruk, through Italy and into Germany, Mr White, of Coombe Field Road, Wickhamford, suffered poor health and respiratory difficulties and a number of hip problems.

After hearing the electric buggy had no defects, the coroner recorded a verdict of accidental death.