Grandfather John Gray died after falling asleep on mobility scooter and plunging off Felixstowe Promenade

An OAP died after it is suspected he fell asleep at the wheel of his mobility scooter - which then plunged down a 5ft seafront drop.

Stroke survivor John Gray died in July 2022 from injuries suffered when the scooter he was riding fell off the beach promenade in Felixstowe. Now, the 76-year-old's daughter, Maxine White, has called for action to prevent it happening again.

An inquest into Mr Gray's death heard he suffered multiple rib fractures in the fall, which led to respiratory failure, and died at Ipswich Hospital on July 13. Suffolk Coroner Nigel Parsley raised concerns over the promenade after the Prevention of Future Death report noted there was no barrier in place to prevent a fall.

Ms White has now backed calls for safety measures along the promenade. She said: "This is the kind of thing you don’t even think about until it happens - I’d welcome some kind of change to make sure this doesn’t happen again."

The 43-year-old said her dad was a sociable man, who ran his own fish and chop show in Felixstowe. The grandfather-of-seven suffered a stroke when he was 57 and overcame the odds to walk again with a stick.

"We were told he was never going to walk again but after five weeks in hospital, he was walking with a stick," the mum-of-four said. "His legs began to let him down in the last few years of his life but he was always out and about."

Mr Gray had been living by himself in Ely, Cambridgeshire, but moved into sheltered accommodation in Felixstowe to be closer to his daughter and grandchildren. He got his mobility scooter in February 2022 - just months before his death.

Ms White said the weekend of John's accident was hot and she thought he headed down to the beach early to get some breakfast in a cafe. "It was about 8.30am when he went out and he went to the beach every day so it was nothing out of the ordinary - we didn't expect anything to happen," she said.

Two joggers found Mr Gray, after he had fallen the five feet in his mobility scooter, in the sand on the beach. He was conscious when ambulance crews arrived and Ms White said they believed he had fallen asleep as he could not remember what had happened.

She said: "When the children were younger, I always used to think the promenade was a bit high. A big point people are missing is if that had been a child, then God knows what would have happened. A mobility scooter falling on top of anyone isn’t going to do any good."

Ms White, managing director of The Christmas Decorators, said a rubber barrier would stop other accidents. "In my job I have to go through so much health and safety and rightly so - this can't happen again and we can learn from this," she added.

"We have to protect both younger people and older people. A lot of mobility scooters are used on the promenade and its lovely. It's not anyone’s fault and I hope all the relevant people can learn if this has happened once then it can happen again - it's been devastating."

Senior Coroner Nigel Parsley said in the Prevention of Future Death report that evidence was heard that falling asleep on a mobility scooter was not uncommon. The report, published in January of this year, added that it happened "more frequently than the general public might think."

Mr Parsley said he was concerned that falls from the promenade onto the beach would occur again as "the current signage and markings provide no warning to an individual asleep on their mobility scooter".