5:00pm Friday 30th July 2010
By Naomi Loomes
A father was crushed to death while trying to fix his daughter’s car.
An inquest was told how Tim Hardcastle, 61, was working on the vehicle near his home when the jack gave way and the car fell on him.
His wife Cathleen only realised something was wrong when an ambulance and fire engine pulled up outside the house Valentines Gardens, Bognor, on May 15 this year.
Emergency services had been called after a dog-walker saw the HGV driver’s trapped body.
Mr Hardcastle suffered severe head, neck and chest injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene at 2.45pm West Sussex coroner’s officer Helen Lawrence said: “He had to grind some bolts off the car in order to put a new part on.
“His wife saw him at the home at around 12pm for lunch.
“He returned to the car lock-up and she could hear the sound of grinding and then she remembers the grinding noise stopping at around 1.30pm.
“Next she saw a woman with a dog outside, she was there a while as if she was looking for someone.”
Penelope Schofield, coroner for West Sussex, said: “It appears the car is resting on the deceased, it is assumed the car jack has given way.
She recorded a verdict of accidental death.
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