A LORRY driver wants all heavy goods vehicles fitted with mirrors that point towards the ground after a pensioner died when he walked out in front of his vehicle, an inquest heard yesterday.

Roland Oliver hit 94-year-old Thomas Murphy after pulling away from traffic lights in Abergavenny at 11.40am on June 9.

But police say the driver was not at fault because there was no way Mr Oliver could have seen him.

Instead of using a pedestrian crossing just yards from where the accident happened, the pensioner chose to cross Old Hereford Road near its junction with Park Road by walking through a small gap between a van and the lorry, which were waiting at lights.

The Newport inquest heard that the driver could not see Mr Murphy after the lights turned green because the lorry's cab was about seven feet above the ground.

"Special mirrors should be put on all lorries which look down in that area to ensure this never happens again," Mr Oliver told the inquest yesterday. "I wish it had never happened."

Other motorists said they remembered seeing the pensioner, who was blind in one eye and had a cataract in the other, walking down the road and then watching him crossing the road just after the lights went green.

They described how Mr Murphy, of Abergavenny, put his arms into the air to attract the lorry driver's attention.

Jonathan Glossop, who was driving nearby, said: "Everything went into slow motion.

"The lorry continued to move forward and I thought, 'oh my gosh, the lorry's not going to stop'. When I saw him lying between the front wheel and the first back wheel I was in shock."

The inquest heard that Mr Murphy died of multiple injuries.

Recording a verdict of accidental death, Gwent coroner David Bowen said: "No blame should be attached to Mr Oliver at all, especially as Mr Murphy was only a short distance from a pedestrian crossing."