A PENSIONER died after his car accelerated into a tree when he suffered a "cardiac event" while sat at the wheel on his drive.
Peter Milner and wife Eileen had returned from a funeral when the accident happened.
Derby and South Derbyshire Coroner's Court heard how the 79-year-old got into his car outside his Allestree home.
His wife went to the end of the driveway to check for traffic and gestured to him.
But in a statement she gave to police, read out in court, she said he "moved forward at speed, veered to the right across his garden, mounted a pavement on the opposite side of the road and hit a tree".
A post-mortem examination revealed the cause of death as "coronary artery thrombosis and fracture-dislocation of the cervical".
In reaching a conclusion that Mr Milner died from natural causes, the assistant coroner, Louise Pinder, said: "It is my view that he died before the car hit the tree.
"Mr Milner suffered a medical episode, an acute cardiac event, that caused the vehicle to accelerate.
"The medical event incapacitated him and he suffered a spine trauma as he collided with the tree."
Mr Milner died after the accident in Alstonfield Drive on August 8.
Matthew Giddings saw the accident. His statement, which was read out by Miss Pinder, corroborated what Mrs Milner told the police.
She said: "He said he saw the car flying off the driveway and then striking the tree."
An inspection of Mr Milner's Nissan saloon car found no defects and a toxicology report showed he had no alcohol in his system.
Miss Pinder said: "The collision investigation considered whether this could have been explained as a case of sudden acceleration syndrome, whereby there is an unintentional, unexpected and uncontrolled acceleration.
"But they have discounted that in this case. Sergeant Sue Hancock, the senior investigating officer, has asked me to send her condolences to Mr Milner's family.
"Her evidence states that Mr Milner suffered a medical episode, causing the vehicle to accelerate."
