British Airways worker tore heart in fatal crash at Heathrow Airport

An engineer who was tragically killed in a crash at Heathrow Airport was left with a "torn heart" after the collision.

John Coles, 44, had been a staple member of the British Airways airport team, working the runways for 28 years before his tragic death on the morning of February 14, 2018.

His van at the time had collided with a pick-up truck, which left Mr Coles complaining of chest and shoulder pain, an inquest has heard.

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The 44-year-old was left waiting an hour for paramedics to arrive at the scene, by which time he went into cardiac arrest because of internal bleeding.

John never woke up after tearing his aorta, the largest artery in the body and the internal bleeding which followed saw him lose consciousness and never wake up.

Bhupinder Sandu, the taxi driver who collided with John while travelling at a speed of 70mph, told jurors he did not know of the 20mph speed limit in place.

Mr Sandu also claimed he had seen a vehicle travelling at 70mph in the past, while a lawyer for HAL said he "should have known" about the speed limit, Metro.

The HAL lawyer added: "When you said earlier there was no speed limit, what you meant was you did not know that there was a speed limit."

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Dr Hiam Ali, the inquest pathologist, ruled Mr Coles had died of multiple injuries including a torn aorta which was caused by the splintered ribs he suffered on impact.

The pathologist added Mr Coles had managed to survive for an hour because his rib which ripped open aorta had lodged itself in place, though Dr Ali said it was "extremely unlikely" John would have survived.

Colleague Gary Higgins said of John: "He had an innocence about him that he carried through life. He grew into a popular and well-loved engineer.

"At BA you either knew John, or you knew of John. He was generous and good-natured, if you needed it and he had it, it was yours."

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