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Veteran walked in front of bus, inquest told

Wednesday, August 27, 2008, 14:11

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A SECOND World War veteran who was nearly twice the drink drive limit died after stepping out in front of a bus in Milehouse.

Tom Tetlow, of The Grosvenor Park Hotel in North Road East, sustained multiple fractures to his ribs, lacerations to his kidney and lung damage during the collision on Friday, October 12 last year.

An inquest, held yesterday at The Crescent, heard the 77-year-old – also known as Thomas Reader – had been drinking all day at The Britannia Inn in Milehouse.

A witness on the No 43 Plymouth Citybus bus told the inquest she saw him walk along the pavement, hail the bus and step into the road.

"I saw the gentleman walking and looking round, he seemed to be staggering a bit," said production operator Deborah Carter.

"He had his arm up and lunged in front of the bus."

Peter Jones, a bus driver of 42 years experience, was at the wheel of the vehicle when the incident occurred. He said he knew the route "well" as he lived locally.

"I was doing about 25 miles-per-hour towards the traffic lights having just come off the roundabout at the bottom of Wolseley Road," he said.

"I saw the man and he was not doing anything untoward. As I got close to him he walked out onto the edge of the pavement and into the road putting his hand in the air as if to stop the bus.

"That is when the accident happened. I tried to turn to the right but it was no good. I had no time to react."

Mr Jones was breathalysed by police following the incident at about 4pm, and the results were negative.

William Honey, a vehicle examiner for Devon and Cornwall police, described the condition of the vehicle at the time of the incident as being "satisfactory".

Lewis Mayes, a barman at The Britannia Inn said earlier in the day, Mr Tetlow had given him his watch and asked him to "look after it".

"I was not really sure what was going on," he said.

"I didn't really know him but he was here every day."

Mr Tetlow was jailed for two years in January 2007 after carrying out unprovoked attacks on two defenceless men.

He attacked the manager of a Salvation Army homeless hostel with a nail file and threatened to kill him and also took a dislike to a man in the Union Rooms pub in Union Street and hit him over the head with a glass bottle.

Mr Tetlow, who according to the court hearing was enlisted in the army as a drummer boy in the Second World War, pleaded guilty to two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Shortly after his death on October 12 last year, police officers found a note in his wallet recalling him to prison for "breaching his licence".

Also in his wallet was a note addressed to people in Perth, Western Australia, stating "goodbye friends xxx. A. Tom". The inquest was told it could not be ascertained when the note was written.

Andrew Cox, Plymouth and West Devon deputy coroner, recorded a verdict of accidental death, and said the evidence did not allow him to return a suicide verdict.

A Plympton traffic officer attending the inquest also questioned why he would attempt suicide when the bus was travelling up the road moving at a lower speed than it would going downhill. He also said the bus driver should feel no guilt.