AN 84-YEAR-OLD man died after his arm was crushed under a bus wheel, an inquest heard.

John Eighteen was in Ashley Road in Parkstone, Poole, when he fell next to an M2 Wilts and Dorset bus and his arm became trapped under the rear wheel, Bournemouth coroner’s court was told.

Bus driver Brian Jones told the inquest he checked his mirrors and was pulling away from the stop outside the Co-operative shop on August 23 last year when he heard a noise and saw the man outside the vehicle on the bus stop side.

He said: “It was almost as if he fell in slow motion.

“When I stopped unfortunately the wheel was on his arm.”

Passers-by stopped to help and asked the driver to move the bus off Mr Eighteen’s arm, Mr Jones added.

Mr Eighteen, of Grosvenor Road in Westbourne, Bournemouth, was airlifted to Southampton hospital but died two days later after suffering organ failure.

PC Clifton Beard said one witness “implied the driver was at fault” but the officer believed Mr Eighteen fell into the road.

East Dorset Coroner Sheriff Payne recorded a verdict that Mr Eighteen died as a result of an accident “without any fault on anyone’s part”.

Friends and family paid tribute to Mr Eighteen after he died last year.

He had been active in the Conservative Party and as a worshipper with West Cliff Baptist Church.

Mr Eighteen was in Parkstone on the day he was injured to withdraw money for a trip with his companion Mary Vizer.

Her son Brian paid tribute to an “all-round great guy”.

And Bournemouth council leader, Cllr John Beesley, who knew Mr Eighteen through the Conservatives, described him as “a really remarkable man”, “a real character and a lovely person”.