Lorry Which Killed Anne Naysmith Was Doing 9Mph

Inquest hears details of the last moments of the 'Car Lady of Chiswick'

Anne Naysmith died after being hit by a lorry travelling at less than 10mph on Chiswick High Road, a hearing at West London Coroner's Court heard last week.

The Polish HGV driver Lukas Cimoch was just pulling away from a set of traffic lights and was unable to see 78-year-old Miss Naysmith, sometimes known as the 'Car Lady of Chiswick'. She was dressed in black when she wheeled her shopping trolley out onto the High Road in the early hours of 10 February last year. She was crossing the road just yards from a pedestrian crossing having just alighted from a 190 bus.

Picture: @janeyjones1

No blame was attached to Mr Cimoch who had no time to react to avoid the collision which took place near Stamford Brook bus garage at 12.40am. Mr. Cimoch stopped at the scene and was not arrested. Miss Naysmith was pronounced dead at the scene despite the efforts of the emergency services including an air ambulance. Chiswick based police office PC Dean Martin was one of the first to attend and immediately recognised Miss Naysmith who had been a regular visitor to the local police station.

Anne Naysmith was a well-known local character and lived for many years in a car in Prebend Gardens. She was sometimes referred to as 'Chiswick's Lady In A Van' in reference to the Alan Bennett play about an elderly woman living in a van in Camden. Shed had been a concert pianist in her earlier life before falling on hard times.

The Telegraph newspaper carried an obituary which detailed how the promising concert pianist, who once played at the Wigmore Hall, was evicted from her home in Prebend Gardens and lived for many years in a car in the street outside. When the car was taken away she moved to a patch of land near Stamford Brook tube station.

Picture: Gareth Thomas

She derived great pleasure from feeding birds and from tending to her small 'urban garden' near Stamford Brook station - there was an outcry in 2012 when TfL removed the shrubs and plants from the patch of ground. For a number of years, her 'spiritual” home has been beneath some shrubby trees on the Vaughan Avenue side of the Stamford Brook car park.

The inquest found that Miss Naysmith died as a result of a road traffic collision.

January 30, 2016