A RETIRED bank manager's death in a North Yorkshire road accident remains a mystery, an inquest heard.

Alan Cantrell, 79, suffered multiple injuries in the smash on Harrogate's southern bypass as he returned to his home in Midway Avenue, Nether Poppleton, York, after a day out with a relative in Leeds.

The treatment Mr Cantrell received at the scene was also called into question, before coroner John Sleightholme recorded a verdict of accidental death at the hearing in Harrogate.

Witnesses told how Mr Cantrell's white VW Polo had travelled along the bypass for more than a mile with its left-hand indicator flashing.

When it reached the Haggs Road junction at Follifoot it drove at about 50mph into the path of an emerging Subaru Legacy estate.

The driver of the Subaru, Christopher Woodruff, who is expected to face a careless driving charge next month, said he had no recollection of seeing the VW at all when he pulled out.

A civil servant working at the National Police Training Centre in Harrogate, Elizabeth Gayle, said she had followed Mr Cantrell along the bypass.

She had tried to draw his attention to the indicator, which operated past one left turn, by flashing her headlights and her hazard warning lights. But he had not made any response.

She said that after the collision she went to help Mr Cantrell who was bleeding from his nose and mouth and told him to stay where he was until specialist help arrived.

But he had been pulled from the wreckage by a man who claimed to be a doctor, a move she had found surprising.

The doctor had warned the woman against giving mouth-to-mouth saying Mr Cantrell was already dead. But she had disagreed and had commenced resuscitation attempts which ultimately failed.

Police accident investigator TC Michael Natt said there had been no indication Mr Cantrell had braked in the couple of seconds he would have had to react to the Subaru.

Updated: 11:37 Wednesday, October 10, 2001