Coroner gives The Range bosses eight weeks to respond after man's death following escalator accident
A coroner is giving a new Telford store 56 days to tell him what changes they have made following the death of an 82-year-old man who had fallen while using an escalator.
An inquest was told that retired civil engineer John Neil Shenton, from Madeley, fell during a visit with his son Craig to The Range store at Forge Retail Park on April 17.
He was taken to A&E at Telford's Princess Royal Hospital after the incident. He was seen by medics and discharged, with advice to return if things got worse. His condition deteriorated, and he went back the next day before dying on April 21.
Senior Shropshire Coroner John Ellery heard that the lift at the shop was not working and Mr Shenton, who was using a stick and browsing for everyday items, decided to go to the store's first floor on the escalator while his wife did not want to.
Mr Shenton's son, Craig, said at the inquest on Tuesday that he heard his father's "chilling scream" as he fell. He thought that the escalator had been "moving quickly" and that was backed up by statements from the store's manager.
But Mr Ellery, sitting at the Coroner's Court at Shirehall, in Shrewsbury, said the escalator had been checked and recorded as working normally by an environmental health officer at Telford & Wrekin Council and the manufacturer, KONE.
Craig Shenton said a member of the public had stood his father back up after the fall and he had tried to track that person down by posting on social media in order to thank them.
