A GRANDFATHER who died nine days after being knocked down by van near his home in New Inn was ‘invisible’ to the driver who hit him, an inquest has heard.

Elwyn Lionel George Palmer, 80, was crossing the road on Festival Crescent, at the junction with Glascoed Road at about 10am on Wednesday, February 7, when he was hit by a Mercedes Sprinter van and knocked to the ground.

He was rushed to University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff, but died of his injuries on Friday, February 16.

Speaking at an inquest on Thursday, October 18, collision investigator with Gwent Police PC Dean Burnett said a combination of Mr Palmer wearing dark clothes, along with the sun being extremely low and casting long, dark shadows had meant he had “effectively disappeared” from the driver’s view. This, he said, would have been exacerbated by items on the vehicles dashboard, which would have been reflected in the windscreen, further impacting affecting visibility.

PC Burnett added he and colleagues had been back to the scene to recreate the conditions on the day of the crash, and found it would have been very difficult for any driver to have seen a pedestrian crossing the road at that spot.

“I’ve been doing this job for a long time and I was surprised at how he just completely disappeared from view because of the effect of the sun,” he said.

A statement read out by Mr Palmer’s daughter Susan Manning said her father, who had eight grandchildren and was well-known for hosting lively children’s parties while working at branches of McDonald’s in the area in the 1990s, had been forced to use a walking stick since a knee replacement operation, but had been keen to keep active.

“He was still quite active for his age and was always out and about,” she said.

“He never moaned about his health and just got on with things.

"He had his issues with walking but didn’t let this stop him.”

Summing up, senior coroner for Gwent Wendy James said: “Mr Palmer was going about his daily routine, walking to the bus stop, something he had done countless times before.

“He was walking in the shadow cast by the houses covering the ground.

“There was no contrast between his clothing and the background.

“Effectively Mr Palmer was invisible to the driver.”

She ruled that Mr Palmer had died as the result of a road traffic collision.