LYNDA MANNING died after a tragic accident, an inquest has ruled.

She tripped and sustained a non-survivable brain injury outside her daughter’s home and died as the result of an accident.

This was the verdict of Dr Claire Balyscz after a day-long inquest into Mrs Manning’s death.

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Dr Balyscz said: “She lived a full and active life.

“On September 30, she had been out with her family for a meal to celebrate her daughter Paula’s birthday, then returned to Paula’s home for a drink.

“On her way back to the car, just after midnight, she fell and hurt her wrist and head.

“The delay in the ambulance arriving was due to the fact that the majority of ambulances were on an enforced break.

“Due to high demand, the ambulance staff had been unable to take their breaks during a scheduled window.

“Lynda’s health deteriorated and another 999 call was made.

“Her status was upgraded from Amber to Red and a 19-minute response time was set but not met.

“On arrival at GWH, she had a CT scan which revealed a brain injury.

“She was transferred to John Radcliffe Hospital and taken into theatre for neurosurgery.

“The extent of her injuries was unsurvivable and she died on October 2.

“The ambulance delay was not contributory to Lynda’s death.”

Statements from two doctors were read out at the inquest which stated that, in their expert opinions, Lynda would have succumbed to her injuries even if the ambulance hadn’t been delayed.

Paul Grzatorex, and Paul Birkett-Wendes from the South West Ambulance Service Trust gave evidence about break policy and their available resources.

Kevin Morse, Lynda’s son-in-law, gave evidence about the night of the fall.

He said: “We met at a restaurant at 8pm, had a meal and drove back to Paula’s house for a cup of tea, then all got up to leave at midnight.

“Lynda was the first to walk out the door, then as I said my goodbyes I heard her cry out Richard’s name – she’d fallen over in-between mine and Richard’s parked cars.

“She’d caught her heel on the kerb and fallen, hurting her wrist and head.

“She was lying on her side, there were no streetlights, it was dark, we couldn’t see her head injury.

“We called an ambulance at 12.05 and since we were only two miles from the hospital we thought it would only take 10 minutes.

“We made three more calls over the next hour to report the escalating scenario, then another call to tell them we were taking her to hospital ourselves.”