Upavon racing driver died after ice fall, inquest is told (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Upavon racing driver died after ice fall, inquest is told

4:47pm Friday 10th July 2009

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Comments(0)

Former Bentley racing driver and army veteran Major Jack Bailey, 95, fractured his spine when he slipped on snow and ice near his Upavon home in February an inquest heard in Salisbury on Friday.

After hearing evidence from his GP Dr Peter Jenkins who had gone to his aid from the village surgery a few yards away, Wiltshire Coroner David Ridley recorded a conclusion of an accidental death.

Dr Jenkins had just completed his morning surgery on February 5 this year at the Fairfield Road practice, close to Maj Bailey’s home, when he was asked to go to the assistance of a man lying on the pavement nearby.

The GP said Maj Bailey was one of his patients and he told the inquest: “For somebody of his age he was amazingly fit and spritely.

“He would always come to the surgery and I never had to visit him at his home.”

He said Maj Bailey was a very active man despite suffering from prostate cancer and a heart problem and after being asked to go the aid of a pedestrian found it was Maj Bailey, lying on his back on compacted snow and ice.

“The weather was awful. It had been snowing the previous day so the pavements in Fairfield were covered with packed snow and ice and it was extremely cold.”

Dr Jenkins said Maj Bailey was conscious and was able to tell him he had slipped and struck his head and could not feel his limbs.

“He was well wrapped up and had dressed appropriately to go out on such a cold day,” the doctor said.

He thought Maj Bailey might have broken his hip and considered the possibility of a neck injury but knowing an ambulance would be delayed by the conditions thought it best to move him in a wheelchair into the warmth of the surgery. The ambulance arrived an hour and three quarters later.

At Salisbury District Hospital’s spinal injuries centre Maj Bailey was x rayed and found to have a fractured spine and had, previously, been suffering from severe deterioration of his spine.

in view of his condition, his age and the severity of his injury there was nothing the hospital could do and he died later than night.

His daughter Carol Brougham told the coroner that her father had always been an active man and was still driving although he would have had to hand in his licence shortly because he had difficulty in turning his head.

Divorcee Maj Bailey moved to live in Wiltshire in 1974 and lived in Pewsey before moving to Upavon about ten years ago.

After the inquest his daughter said he had served as a career soldier and been commissioned before World War 2. He served with the British Army in India and retired as a major when he was 45 continuing to work for the MoD at its fighting vehicle development establishment in Surrey..

Maj Bailey raced Bentleys for many years and kept up his membership of the Bentley Drivers’ Club. He was also keen on model railways, had his own layout and was a member of a club that met at the Upavon Lines.

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Comments(0)