Granddad, 66, crushed to death by own car after he forgot to leave handbrake on

A granddad was crushed to death by his own Land Rover after he forgot to use the handbrake, an inquest heard.

Roland Krumins, 66, pulled over and stepped out of the vehicle while on his way to work in Halifax, West Yorkshire, on April 6 last year.

But he did not apply the handbrake and the Discovery started rolling down the road, eventually trapping him when it crashed into a wall.

A crash investigator told an inquest into Roland’s death he would have had no chance of either stopping the vehicle once it started rolling or getting out of its way after trying to bring it to a halt.

Bradford Coroner’s Court heard Roland, who stopped the car for an unknown reason, ‘instinctively’ tried to regain control of the car as it began rolling.

But the vehicle veered towards a mill building – trapping him between the door and the car.

Assistant Coroner Angela Brocklehurst said Roland died from crush asphyxia and recorded a conclusion of accidental death.

The hearing was told the car was left in neutral with the keys in the ignition and the handbrake had not been engaged.

Forensic Collision Investigator PC Bhupinder Sood said Roland would have had no chance of stopping the vehicle once it began moving.

He said: ‘Someone isn’t going to stop a vehicle at that weight.

‘There is nothing he would have been able to do other than leave it.

‘The way the marks are, it’s happened so quick, it’s unlikely he had time to get out the way.’

Christopher Turner, who found Roland, said he saw the car with its hazard lights on and the driver’s door open against the wall.

It was only when he passed back a few minutes later that he spotted Roland ‘laid half in and half out of the vehicle’.

Emergency services were called but Roland, who was unconscious, was found to have no pulse and was declared dead.

There were no witnesses to the incident, and CCTV showed no issues with Roland’s driving before the tragedy.

Roland’s family said he had spent 45 years working in retail, rising to become a manager and making ‘many friends’ along the way.

He met wife Melanie on a blind date almost four decades ago, and the couple married in 1990.

They went on to have two daughters and were later ‘blessed with grandchildren’, the inquest heard.

Speaking after the hearing, Melanie described her husband as a devoted family man, adding that ‘everything revolved around family’.

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