“The driver of the vehicle that caused this death was unwell with a urine tract infection”
Dated 10 Sep 2021, from the coroner for West London. Sent to 4 organisations or people.
A coroner wrote this report after an inquest, to warn the organisations below about a risk of further deaths.
The 56-day response deadline
Deadline passedReplies were due by 5 Nov 2021. A reply may have been sent and not yet published.
Organisations that receive a report must reply to the coroner within 56 days, saying what they will do or why they will do nothing. We show whether a response is published on judiciary.uk.
- Report dated10 Sep 2021
- Deadline5 Nov 2021
- Published on judiciary.uk17 Sep 2021
- Today23 Oct 2026
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Responses from each recipient
| Sent to | Response |
|---|---|
| Department for Transport | Response publishedPublished on judiciary.uk in September 2021. |
| General Medical Council | Response publishedPublished on judiciary.uk in September 2021. |
| Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency | Deadline passedNo response published on judiciary.uk so far. The 56-day deadline was 5 Nov 2021. A reply may have been sent and not yet published. |
| GP | Deadline passedNo response published on judiciary.uk so far. The 56-day deadline was 5 Nov 2021. A reply may have been sent and not yet published. |
The coroner’s concerns
The driver of the vehicle that caused this death was unwell with a urine tract infection. He had previously been treated for a urine tract infection. There is no evidence to suggest that he or his family were advised that he may demonstrate symptoms of confusion, agitation or delirium as a consequence of this and they would render him unfit to drive. 5 There appears to be insufficient testing and instruction of the older population with regards to road safety, which led to this tragic outcome. While there are guidelines for driving with dementia or mild cognitive impairment produced by the General Medical Council, there appears to be nothing specific to other sudden onset confusion or delirium which is a well recognised and common symptom in the elderly when physically unwell. It is recognised that our population are growing older and that an increasing number of this cohort will have a driving licence. It is of concern that a situation can arise that leads to the loss of another drivers life, and additional lives could very easily have been lost as a consequence of this incident. Consideration should be given to more frequent, rigorous testing and to consider the duties that should be placed on the driver, their medical practitioners and also family members/carers to report changes in presentation or health to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency.
An extract. Read the full report, including the circumstances of the death, on the Courts and Tribunals Judiciary website.
- Source
- judiciary.uk, Prevention of Future Deaths reports, 2021-0305
- Added to Minute Book
- 8 Oct 2026
- Reuse
- We show short extracts and link to the original. We don’t host the full report.
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Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: Courts and Tribunals Judiciary, judiciary.uk. Open Government Licence v3.0
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