Swanley complaints manager died in bike crash in Highfield Dental Centre car park in Dartford on way home from church

A man died on his way home from church after losing control of his bike in the car park of a dental surgery.

Joshi Stephen, from Swanley, passed away in the car park of Highfield Dental Centre in Summerhill Road, Dartford after taking a cut through on his way home.

During an inquest into his death at Oakwood House held on Monday (February 23), coroner Venessa Holt said the 45-year-old had died as a result of multiple traumatic injuries.

Police were called to attend the surgery at 7.37am on October 28, after reports a man had been seriously injured.

Paramedics also attended after a passer-by called 999, but Joshi was sadly pronounced dead at the scene.

The court heard Joshi was originally from India and had moved to the UK in 2023 and worked as a complaints manager.

He regularly attended the local church and went to mass most evenings between 6pm and 8pm.

The coroner ruled out alcohol as a contributing factor to his death and said he had never consumed alcohol in his life.

Mrs Holt said Joshi had been riding on his bike when he hit a low wall and struck a single storey part of the dental surgery with force and fell into a drop of around 7-8ft.

The bike was the only vehicle on the road at the time, and no other road users were present.

A police report heard in court revealed the rear brake of his bike was not working, and the wall the deceased flew over did not have any tyre or skid marks.

The investigating officer described the incident as a “tragic accident” and believed the hypotheses could be that Joshi lost control going down the hill or the rear brakes had failed.

The police found no indication that he intended to take his own life and no evidence of third party involvement after reviewing CCTV evidence.

Although it is not a public right of way, the court heard the route was used as a cut-through to the main road.

Since then, the dentist surgery has erected a fence to protect the drop, the coroner said.

She concluded on the balance of probabilities that the 45-year-old’s death was accidental.