A PENSIONER died while trying to help friends cross the road after a church trip, an inquest was told.

Barbara Berry, 69, of Cherry Crescent, Rawtenstall, had stepped off a coach in Rawtenstall and was trying to stop the traffic when she was hit by a car. The incident happened around 4.45pm on Wednesday, December 11 when she was crossing Burnley Road, near the junction of Elm Street.

She was hit by a Ford Escort driven by Joseph Allpress, of Linden Lea, Rawtenstall, who was returning home from work.

She suffered multiple injuries and was taken by air ambulance to Burnley General Hospital where she was pronounced dead.

The inquest heard Mrs Berry had just returned from a church trip to Whalley Abbey with other parishioners from St James the Less when the incident happened.

Eye-witness Steven Spencer, of Burnley Road, said he saw Mrs Berry step into the road. He added: "She stepped off the kerb into the road and was holding her hand up as if she was trying to stop the traffic, but she had her back to the oncoming cars. She stepped back towards the kerb, then out again and that is when she was hit."

Accident investigator PC Eric Taylor, now retired from Lancashire Police, told the inquest the driver would have had virtually no time to avoid hitting Mrs Berry.

Acting East Lancashire Coroner Richard Taylor recorded a verdict of accidental death. He said: "Mrs Berry was thinking more about other people than herself and as she tried to help people across the road she was sadly looking the wrong way and the driver had no time to see her."