British Airways worker 'tore heart vessel' and died an hour after Heathrow crash
A Heathrow Airport engineer who died after his van was hit by a truck on the runway had to wait an hour for a paramedic to arrive on bicycle, his inquest has heard.
John Coles' main heart vessel was 'torn' by the impact of the collision at the airport while carrying out his duties in February 2018. About an hour after the crash, the 44-year-old went into cardiac arrest due to internal bleeding and never woke up.
An inquest into Mr Coles' tragic death has now heard how John, a music lover from west London, suffered a tear to his aorta - the biggest blood vessel leading to the heart - and broke his ribs in the horror smash.
His British Airways Renault Kangoo van collided with a HAL Toyata Hilux on the airport's runway tarmac just before 6am on February 14, My London reports.
John, who had been working for the airline for 28 years, had complained of chest and shoulder pain, but it took "some time" for an ambulance to arrive, the jury at the hearing was told.
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The scene on the runway (PA)Giving evidence, pathologist Dr Hiam Ali said Mr Coles' cause of death had been a torn aorta, due to his ribs breaking in the crash.
She also dismissed one paramedic's view that his broken ribs may have been due to chest compressions delivered in his emergency treatment.
Dr Ali told jurors that Mr Coles had only managed to survive for an hour because the rib that ripped apart his aorta had probably become lodged inside it, initially slowing the bleeding. "It is extremely unlikely Mr Coles would have survived the aortic injury," she said.
Witness Bhupinder Sandu, a ramp agent for BA, said he was loading cargo onto planes when he heard a "really big bang".
"When we looked at the taxi way the [the white Renault] was rolling through," he said. "It stopped and the horn was bleeping, and the Hilux was standing in the middle of the taxi way."
Mr Sandu remembered walking to the car and asking John 'Sir are you okay?', but told jurors he never got an answer. "He was unconscious," Mr Sandu said.
"I walked back to [Ramp] 556 because there was a telephone booth. I dialled 222, I got through to a lady. I was speaking to someone based at Heathrow Airport. Their response was they already knew about it.
"I told this lady one of the people involved was unconscious. I went to get another colleague to get the HAL driver, but the HAL driver got out of his car and was on the radio."
Lawyers for both London Ambulance Service (LAS) and Heathrow questioned Mr Sandu's version of events.
A representative for LAS asked: "Is it possible you rang to tell them about the incident and when they said they knew about it, that's where you finished?" Mr Sandu replied: "I think I told them. I'm pretty sure I told them he's not responding."
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A Heathrow reprasentative pointed out that the control room had told paramedics there were "no serious injuries" after Mr Sandu's call, then asked the witness again if he had passed on the relevant information. Summarising Mr Sandu's revised position, Coroner David Furniss said: "He probably did and he can't be sure."
Mr Sandu also told jurors he believed there was no speed limit for vehicles crossing the taxiways at the time of the crash in 2018, and that the advice was to cross "as quickly as possible".
An advocate for John's family said: "At the time of the accident, your understanding was you could drive at any speed between the crossing?" Mr Sandu replied 'Yes'.
He also said he had known another vehicle to travel at 70mph, but was told by someone from BA about the 20mph speed limit after John's death.
"It came as a surprise to you to be told it was 20mph," Mr Sandu was asked. He replied 'Yes'.
Later Mr Sandu was quizzed by a HAL lawyer who said there was "no misunderstanding", but at the time of the accident Mr Sandu "should have known" about the speed limit.
"When you said earlier there was no speed limit, what you meant was you did not know that there was a speed limit," HAL's advocate added.
Brother Mark Coles and colleague Gary Higgins also gave evidence, sharing their memories of John with the jury.
Mark said: "John was the kind of guy who would say 'Anyone want to go to this concert?' then buy 20 tickets upfront and collect the money later, he was just that kind of guy."
Gary Higgins said: "He had an innocence about him that he carried through life. He grew into a popular and well-loved engineer. At BA you either knew John, or you knew of John. He was generous and good-natured, if you needed it and he had it, it was yours."
The inquest continues with a conclusion expected later this week.
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