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John Howard Reddington

Age: 30

Sex: male

Date: 28 Nov 1963

Place: Bidford Road, Doddington

John Howard Reddington was found dead in the road.

He had been a railway signalman.

His inquest heard that he had almost certainly been struck by multiple vehicles that didn't stop after he fell from his motor-scooter on the Stratford to Bidford road near the Dodford Trailer park.

He had lived in Tower Hill, Bidford and had been on his way to work at the time at about 9.40pm.

A man that had lived in Reddings Road, Cheltenham, said that he had been driving towards Bidford when he swerved to avoid what appeared to be a pile of sacks in the road on his offside. He said that he then saw a leg sticking out.

He said that after flashing his headlights to warn oncoming traffic to stop, he got out of his car and went over to the body, but then realised that two cars were approaching from Bidford at a speed of between 60 and 70mph. He said:

I went into the middle of the road and waved my arms but they did not stop and I had to jump into the middle of the road to avoid being knocked down. By the time I had recovered my balance they were going away in the distances. I thought the vehicles hit the man though I am not too sure of this. They were going straight up the road and if they continued in that line they could not have failed to hit him.

The doctor that examined John Reddington said that he had injuries to his head, chest and the lower part of his body. He said that he thought that his chest had been crushed by a car wheel and the lower part of the body could have been injured by part of the suspension of one of the cars. He said that his head injury was probably sustained when John Reddington fell from his scooter but that it was not very serious and that he would have expected him to have recovered from that if he had not been further injured.

The inquest heard that efforts to trace the drivers of the two cars that were thought to have driven over him were unsuccessful.

The Coroner added:

There are quite clearly witnesses of this accident who have not come forward.

An open verdict was returned.

see www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk

see Birmingham Daily Post - Thursday 28 November 1963

see Stratford-upon-Avon Herald - Friday 22 November 1963

see Stratford-upon-Avon Herald - Friday 15 November 1963