Man's e-scooter crash death prompts helmet call

A coroner said she would be writing to the secretary for transport to raise the issue of electric scooter helmets following the death of a rider from Nottingham.

Scott Catton, 53, suffered a fatal head injury when he hit a car door which was opened in front of him while he was riding along Ridgeway in Top Valley on 5 June 2025.

The inquest heard he was double the drink driving limit and had cocaine in his system but it was unclear if this had any impact on his ability to avoid the accident.

Assistant coroner for Nottinghamshire Karen Boyle said she would be writing a Prevention of Future Deaths report due to the lack of requirement to wear head protection while using e-scooters.

In January at Nottingham Magistrates Court, Lauren Bardill, 31, of Ridgeway Walk, admitted a charge of opening a vehicle door so as to injure or endanger a person, and was fined £160.

Friday's hearing at Nottingham Coroners Court heard Bardill was parked on the left hand side of the road on the brow of a hill and a slight left bend and Catton came up behind her.

Bardill told police she opened the driver's door and the rider had "come out of nowhere".

Dashcam footage from a following car showed Catton was not driving erratically and tried to evade the door but caught his left arm and crashed immediately, without having time to take his hands off the handbars.

Forensic collision investigator Andy Bell said: "If she had used her mirrors she would have had an unrestricted view of the road allowing her to see the scooter for 4.5 seconds before the collision.

"My conclusion is that Ms Bardill did not look or did not look properly."

He added: "I don't think speed was the issue, it was the way he fell which was the major contributor to his injuries"

Bell also confirmed his opinion that a helmet would have reduced the severity of the injuries but "could not say" if it would have been enough to save Catton's life.

Ruling that Catton died as the result of road traffic accident, Boyle said: "It is clear from the results of the post-mortem that Scott was intoxicated to a level which may have contributed to an impairment of judgement.

"This case did not involve excessive speed but the manner of the fall to the road caused a catastrophic head injury."

She added that due to the number of electric scooters on the road, she was going to contact the secretary of state for transport to raise a Prevention of Future Deaths report over the law concerning wearing helmets.

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