A YORK cycle courier died 11 days after falling from his bike in the city and suffering a fractured skull, an inquest was told.

Ethan Bradley, 28, a campaigner for workers' rights, was briefly knocked unconscious when his head hit the ground in the accident outside York Railway Station, which was witnessed by police and did not involve any other vehicle.

Paramedics were called, who found him sitting upright and alert, but with a graze to the head and bleeding from the nose.

He was taken by ambulance to York Hospital's emergency department but left before being examined by a doctor, said Coroner Jonathan Leach.

But ten days later, on November 23, he went back to the hospital, complaining he had lost some hearing, had been suffering from a headache for three days and had been experiencing some numbness and tingling.

He was examined for a potential head injury - particularly in the light of his attendance ten days earlier after the accident - but did not have symptoms supporting the need for a CT scan and he left the hospital, said Mr Leach.

Dr Rawnak Jaibaji, a consultant in the emergency department at York Hospital, said that if Ethan had stayed at the hospital to be examined immediately after the accident, he would probably have been been given a CT scan.

But when he came to the hospital ten days later, his hearing loss was consistent with his ears being blocked by wax, and his numbness and tingling could have been the symptoms of suffering from anxiety and hyperventilating.

The inquest was told that Ethan was found unresponsive on his bedroom floor at his home in Pottery Lane by a friend the following day and found to have died.

A post mortem examination showed he had suffered two fractures to the skull, and the primary cause of death was these fractures, caused by head injuries.

The coroner concluded his death was accidental.

Ethan was chair of the couriers section of the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) and led campaigns for his fellow workers’ pay, rights and conditions.

His mother Rosemary said in a statement that he had worked for the Bureau of investigative Journalism, which had said he would have made an excellent journalist.

He had been taking a second degree while working as a courier.

Mrs Bradley told The Press previously how Ethan had been a 'source of pleasure and pride,' saying: "He was very precious. I was a single mum and it was a real privilege to have a child at 44 and a pleasure to raise him.

"He loved family life and never put the phone down without saying: 'I love you Mum'.

"He was a very strong character - a champion of the underdog who never gave up."