A PENSIONER was “crushed" by a maintenance van moments before he was due to go on holiday with his wife.

Bill Hall, of New Milton, fell on the road and was caught beneath a BT repair truck as he hurried to catch a train to Gatwick airport, an inquest heard yesterday.

His wife, Hilary, was waiting with the couple’s suitcases at the town’s railway station ahead of their trip to Lanzarote.

Mr Hall, 84, had dropped her off and was walking back from their home when he was struck on the road by engineer Nigel Laker.

A post-mortem revealed Mr Hall was “dragged and crushed” underneath the van as it turned onto Spencer Road.

Wiping away tears, the widow told Winchester Coroner’s Court how she heard sirens as emergency crews rushed to the scene.

She was later taken to New Milton Police Station, where she was told that her husband had died.

Firefighters used a pneumatic jack to free Mr Hall from the underbelly, but he was declared dead by doctors moments later.

Mr Laker was turning out of a narrow alley near BT’s telephone exchange when Mr Hall was caught between his wheels.

“I felt a bump and stopped,” he told the court, adding that he “looked left and right” before turning, but saw no pedestrians.

The Vauxhall Vivaro’s windscreen pillar may have blinded Mr Laker to the pensioner as he crossed the road, forensic collision investigator PC Tracey Saunders said.

No one witnessed the incident on August 14 and there is no definitive account of what happened.

But PC Saunders said the “only plausible explanation” was that Mr Hall had been in the road “for a number of seconds” and fell before he was struck.

Senior central Hampshire coroner Grahame Short called the collision a “tragic coincidence,” recording a verdict of accidental death.

He said: “He may well have fallen over, when he twisted around to see the van. He was in a hurry because he knew he had a train to catch.”

After the hearing, Mrs Hall said she would “never be apart” from her husband.

The couple, of Ashley Road, had travelled together since 1954 and were due to celebrate their 63rd wedding anniversary on a cruise after Christmas.