A PENSIONER with motor neurone disease died after being hit by a pub’s advertising board - which wasn’t chained down in windy weather, an inquest heard.

Keith Holmes, 73, died of a bleed on the brain after coming into contact with an ‘A board’ “which lifted off the ground and struck him in the chest” outside a pub.

Mr Holmes had planned to meet his wife as he walked past the ‘The Myrtle Grove’ Wetherspoon chain in Bingley, on November 19, 2016.

However, Assistant Bradford Coroner Oliver Longstaff, sitting at Bradford Crown Court today, heard the pensioner never made it as a gust of wind picked up the heavy wooden board, which hit him in the chest.

Eye-witness Danielle Greaves sobbed as she consoled members of Mr Holmes’s family after giving evidence at the hearing.

Mrs Greaves, who works as a teacher, told the inquest: “As I opened my car door, the wind pulled it outwards and, as I looked to my left, one of the A-boards lifted up and hit Mr Holmes in the chest.

“He fell to the floor and hit his head on the concrete pavement. It was a very windy day. The impact was quite big as it struck him, it was a big impact from the boards - they were heavy.”

Wetherspoon’s cleaner Brian Adams told the inquest he had put out the A-boards on the day of the incident “like every day in the two years I worked there” at around 7.40am.

The cleaner described the weather at the time as “damp, but not windy”.

However, in written evidence read out in court, Tom Ward, the on-duty opening manager at the time of the incident, admitted not reading an email sent out to all Wetherspoons pubs to take in A-boards due to harsh winds two days before the incident.

Mr Ward later filled out an injury log on how they could best avoid incidents like Mr Holmes’s in the future, and wrote: “I have thought about how hooks and chains to the A-boards may have added additional security”.

Giving evidence, the pub’s main boss Angela Slater said when she arrived at the pub at 8.15am that “it was rainy - but not windy”.

Mr Holmes, of Canal Road, was struck by the advertising board at around 1.30pm, the inquest heard. Ms Slater said she herself had read the email, but thought “the weather wasn’t that bad”, she told the jury.

The inquest heard Mr Holmes had motor neurone disease and had limited use of his arms so he couldn’t prevent himself from falling over.

However, his doctor’s notes revealed his legs were in perfect working order.

Mr Holmes was due to meet Sylvia outside Boots in the town centre, but when he didn’t arrive after two hours she called the police to report a missing person.

Police located Mr Holmes - who by this time had arrived at Bradford Royal Infirmary - where he later died.

In a statement read out to the court, Sylvia said her husband was not a customer at the pub.

The jury inquest, due to last five days, continues.