Man killed where street lights were broken - report

A man was hit by a car and killed at night on a road where a number of street lights were not working, a coroner said.

John Hickmott, 63, died on 19 February at about 19:15 GMT while crossing the V11 Tongwell Street in Northfield, Milton Keynes.

Adam Smith, the assistant coroner for Milton Keynes, said the driver of the vehicle would only have seen Mr Hickmott at the last moment.

The driver was travelling below the road's 60mph speed limit and tried to take evasive action, according to a prevention of future death report.

Mr Hickmott died at the scene from multiple fractures and cardiogenic shock, injuries he sustained after being struck by the car.

The street light above the area where the collision happened on the single carriageway was not working at the time, the report stated.

The nearest lit street lights were 75m (246ft) and 105m (344ft) respectively in opposite directions.

The report said Mr Hickmott had been seen a few minutes earlier stumbling on the grass verge and into the road and evidence suggested he may have been intoxicated at the time.

Mr Smith received documents from Milton Keynes City Council that indicated a number of street lights on the V11 had previously been reported as not working.

The documents stated that "several lamps on both sides of V11 were permanently out between the two Northfield Drive turnings".

"This is making this already accident-prone stretch of road more dangerous as the turnings are very dark," the documents said.

According to the authority's procedure at the time, a block of five lights should have been repaired within 14 days of having been reported defective and three individual lights within 28 days.

Mr Smith said he was concerned at the length of time being taken to repair street lights and the extent to which proactive inspections were undertaken to identify faulty street lights.

He has asked what action was being taken by Milton Keynes City Council to ensure it follows its own procedure.

The authority has 56 days from the date of the report to respond.

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