A PENSIONER was killed by a bin wagon as she made her way to the post office to pay her rent for the week.

An inquest heard that Jean Eastwood, 65, had been walking in a alleyway to the rear of Norden Court next to Bentley car showroom in Harwood Road, Rishton, when she was hit by a Hyndburn Council vehicle on May 14 last year.

The driver, Kevin Michael Slattery, told the hearing in Blackburn town hall that he had not seen Mrs Eastwood when he reversed the vehicle.

But a police officer said that if Mr Slattery had used all the views available to him, he would have been able to see the retired care worker, of Eachill Gardens, Rishton.

The jury ruled that Mrs Eastwood died as a result of an accident.

In a statement read by PC Paul Cornall from Mr Slattery's police interview, the driver told police that he had not seen Mrs Eastwood in his wing mirrors or on the CCTV monitor which was fitted in the refuse wagon.

As soon as the vehicle was put into reverse the warning alarms were activated and the warning lights were functioning.

Mr Slattery and his co worker Steven Fairclough, who has six years' refuse collection experience, were reversing into an alley behind Norden Court from Harwood Road at approximately 12.45pm to collect bin bags and empty trade bins from a takeaway and restaurant.

Mr Slattery, who has worked for Hyndburn Council for 18 years and has collected rubbish on that route for approximately three years, said: "I was not aware of any pedestrians at the rear of the vehicle. There were none at all.

"At the back I was aware of a noise then I looked at my offside mirror and there was something under the wagon.

"I had not seen anyone until I had heard the noise."

But PC Steve Price, accident investigator based at Bamber Bridge, said: "If the driver had used all his views ideally he would have seen the deceased.

"There is a very little blind spot behind this vehicle which has an area of about two metres."

Witness Anthony D'souza, who had stopped to allow the wagon to reverse did not see Mrs Eastwood but did recall hearing a noise then saw the wagon hit what he thought was a wheelie bin.

Mrs Eastwood's daughter Diane Burridge, of Ullswater Close, Rishton, said her mother, who had her rent card and £20 in her pockets, would use the alley as a short cut to the post office in High Street.

Mrs Burridge told an inquest that her mother did not suffer from hearing difficulties, walked unaided and only wore reading glasses.

A post mortem examination revealed Mrs Eastwood died from multiple crash injuries and consultant pathologist Dr Mohammad Aslam for Royal Blackburn Hospital said there was no medical evidence to suggest she had collapsed before she was hit by the truck.

Coroner Michael Singleton said: "Mrs Eastwood was clearly there and the driver clearly didn't see her, only this is a matter of speculation. Was it a momentary lapse in attention or when he checked one mirror to the next he didn't see her?

"To lose your mother in any circumstances would have been tragic in these circumstances which we have come here today to hear and the graphic evidence I can't imagine the trauma you have been through.

"I also recognise more than one victim. I have very little doubt about the events of that day will be played back to them for the rest of their lives."