Baroness died because she ‘was not looking where she was going’

A world-renowned art collector died after walking into the path of a bus in an incident often caused by ‘elderly people not looking where they are going’, a coroner has said.

Baroness Marion Lambert, 73, was knocked over by a double decker as she crossed the road during rush hour outside Bond Street station in central London on 24 May last year.

The philanthropist suffered severe injuries as a result of the crash and died at St Mary’s Hospital four days later.

If she ‘had checked that the road was clear she would not have been injured’, Westminster Coroners Court heard.

Assistant Coroner Dr Shirley Radcliffe said in her experience this type of accident was caused by ‘elderly people not looking where they are going or recently arrived travellers from abroad who have looked in the wrong direction’.

But baroness Lambert’s son Henri said it was ‘not an isolated incident but a pattern of incidents’.

He urged the police to share information on other collisions on Oxford Street with the inquest.

Baroness Lambert lived in Switzerland and Italy and is thought to have been visiting her venture capitalist son Henri, who was living in Earl’s Court.

The family’s life had been marred by tragedy – the Baroness had spent years trying to bring to justice a man her daughter Philippine claimed had repeatedly raped her in the suicide note she left before she killed herself in 1997.

On the day of thec accident, she had been on her way to meet friend and auctioneer Simon de Pury to talk about how the art world could help the Syrian refugee crisis.

Baroness Lambert was described as being known for her ‘unique artistic vision and eclectic eye’.

She had amassed an impressive collection of over 300 pieces, including a 1953 portrait of Marilyn Monroe by Gene Korman as well as work by Barbara Kruger and Andy Warhol.

Her collection was thought to be one of the most valuable arrays of 20th century art.

Pieces from her collection fetched nearly £15million at the Frieze art fair, with the money going to charity.

Henri Lambert said the ‘context was missing’ from the inquest and wanted the police to disclose information about other accidents involving buses and pedestrians on Oxford Street.

He said he wanted information ‘not just for my mother but for everyone else who has been affected by these accidents to know about the pattern of these accidents in and around Oxford Street’.

‘This was not an isolated incident but a pattern of incidents,’ he said.

Mr Lambert also requested the history of accidents at Arriva specifically and wanted the police to ‘verify’ the driver’s claim he had eight hours sleep the night before.

He said he, those he knew, and others in the room did not get eight hours a night.

Dr Radcliffe informed him she had eight hours last night.

‘The driver had been up since 5am and was in the middle of his second shift, in rush hour,’ said Mr Lambert.

Dr Radcliffe said she did not know how to verify if the driver slept for eight hours maybe they would need the driver’s shift patterns.

He asked for disclosure form the police of the driver’s statement after the police refused his request.

Dr Radcliffe said she did not have the power to disclose the information but would read the ‘very detailed report’ made my PC Jack Lee, from the Collision Investigation Unit (CIU).

She would then decide if she would see if she could change the Detective Inspector’s mind about disclosure.

Dr Radcliffe said the report by PC Lee was ‘extremely detailed and covers all the relevant facts’.

‘In conjunction with the CCTV there is little else one would want to know,’ she said.

DS John Hartfree, senior investigator at the CIU, said he had ‘no problem’ with Mr Lambert having the documents but his DI didn’t agree and felt the report was enough.

Dr Radcliffe said: ‘It is quite clear the experienced collision investigator has considered that there was no mechanical deficiencies in the bus.

‘It was daylight with good visibility, no environmental issues, with a high level of pedestrian traffic.’

She said the report shows ‘baroness Lambert walked into the middle of the road and continued walking without having looked in the direction that the bus came.

‘If she had checked that the road was clear she would not have been injured.’

‘The experienced collision investigator says, tragically, the cause of this accident is the choice baroness Lambert made stepping out in the middle of the road without looking.’

Dr Radcliffe said the accident didn’t occur on a pedestrian crossing, the bus did not go against a traffic light when he shouldn’t have or mount the curb.

‘In my experience that is generally the case in these accidents,’ she said.

Mr Lambert said he was not suggesting that his mother was not responsible but said it was being looked at ‘in isolation’

‘Each is being looked at in isolation and that is a mistake as these accidents keep seeming to happen,’ he said.

He suggested the speed limit be reduced from 30mph to 20mph in line with residential areas.

The bus that hit baroness Lambert, although it was accelerating, was travelling at 16mph and would not have gone above 20mph on the ‘busy road’.

PC Lee said reducing the speed limit ‘would not have altered the outcome’.

Dr Radcliffe said accidents of this kind were ‘people walking into buses not the other way around’.

DS Hartfree said a report from the CIU’s traffic manager would be provided giving details of accidents on Oxford Street in the last 12 months.

‘What is the situation with road safety in Oxford Street?,’ asked Dr Radcliffe.

She said she hade done inquests into ‘a number of them’ and they were often if not always due to pedestrian error.

‘Often elderly people not looking where they are going or recently arrived travellers from abroad who have looked in the wrong direction,’ she said.

Dr Radcliffe said there had not been any submission about hazards in the road by the police in the collision report.

Oxford Street is only open to buses and taxis between 7am and 7pm and there are plans in place to pedestrianise it.

Kevin Goad, head of highways for Westminster City Council who are responsible for Oxford Street, said plans were at the consultation stage.

He said the plans would see the pedestrianisation of Oxford Street going west from Oxford Circus to Orchard Street.

It is planned to be complete at the same time as work on Bond Street tube station in November 2018, the court heard.

There are plans to move traffic flow onto the ‘already busy’ Wigmore Street where there was ‘no controlled pedestrian crossings’.

Amy Clarke, representing TFL, said: ‘It will just be moved to Wigmore Street, where does that traffic go?’

Dr Radcliffe said it was her view that the driver of the Arriva-operated, who stopped at the scene should not be called to give evidence as it causes ‘unnecessary distress’.

She said it was clear from the report that he could have not avoided the collision.

Dr Radcliffe said she would read the traffic collision report and decide the extra documentation Mr Lambert requested should be disclosed to him.

Another pre inquest review will take place on 2 August when a decision will be made and an inquest date will be set.

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