Mum died after being hit by son’s car following Denbigh GP fall

A great-grandmother who fell outside a GP surgery in Denbigh was mistakenly hit by a car driven by her son who had just dropped her off.

However a coroner found it was likely that the fall led to Celia Adams’ death in February 2025, rather than the collision.

An inquest into the death of the 81-year-old from Henllan, Denbighshire, heard Ian Adams had parked his Range Rover in a doctor’s parking space at Brynffynnon Surgery to get his mother, who was not able to walk very well, as close to the door as possible.

Adams described how he reversed the car while looking for traffic on the main road, and did not see his mother or “feel a bump” when the collision occurred.

In a statement, Adams, who was his mother’s carer, said he had walked her around the rear of his vehicle and the one parked next to it and left her about 4ft (1.2m) from the door of the surgery in order to move his car into another car park.

Dashcam footage from another vehicle which turned on to the road showed Celia Adams lying on the ground and Ian Adams’ vehicle driving away.

Staff at the GP surgery became aware of a woman lying on the ground at the rear of the surgery and brought her inside to treat her while an ambulance was called.

It was only when Ian Adams heard his mother tell staff that she had fallen and been run over that he realised what had happened.

The inquest heard Dr Sian Glover, a GP at the practice, found Celia Adams had an injury to the side of her face.

She added the surgery was aware of her as a patient who had mobility issues and had suffered frequent falls.

Adams was initially taken to Ysbyty Glan Clwyd in Bodelwyddan before being transferred to the Royal Stoke University hospital.

The pensioner underwent surgery for rib fractures but due to osteoporosis they were found to be too thin to fix and only one could be repaired.

She died 10 days later on 28 February with respiratory failure due to multiple fractured ribs and frailty.

John Gittins, coroner for north Wales, east and central, reached a conclusion of accidental death, rather than that of road traffic collision.

He said that given Adams’ long-standing diagnosis of osteoporosis, it was conceivable the rib fractures which led to her respiratory failure were caused by the fall before the vehicle struck her.

“Her fall was simply an accident,” he said

In a tribute after her death, her family described the great-grandmother, who had owned a shop selling china before her retirement, as “a woman of many talents who had the biggest heart”, and said she was “the glue that held us all together”.