A coroner has recommended a system to prioritise urgent road repairs after an elderly woman tripped on a damaged road surface while crossing the road.Beryl Barrett, 87, died on Christmas Day last year six days after the wheels on her walking frame got caught in the road in Church Street, Warsop, Nottinghamshire, while she was using a pedestrian crossing.Nottingham Coroner’s Court heard that Mrs Barrett fractured her hip in the fall and died from bronchopneumonia at King’s Mill Hospital in Sutton-in-Ashfield.Assistant coroner Nathanael Hartley concluded on Monday that her death was accidental, but warned there may be a risk of more fatal incidents.He also found that the defect in the road that caused Mrs Barrett to trip was not bad enough to require repair.Mrs Barrett was initially thought to have tripped on a pothole which had not been identified by inspectors 18 days before her fall, but the inquest heard there had been a misunderstanding about which road defect caused her fall.Steve Walton, a pre-construction director at Via East Midlands, which provides road maintenance services for Nottinghamshire County Council, gave evidence to the inquest.He initially told the hearing that a pothole which had been thought to have caused her fall had been missed during a road inspection on 1 December because the inspector deemed it not deep enough to need filling in, but did not consider the lower threshold for potholes on pedestrian crossings.Beryl Barrett was initially thought to have tripped on a pothole which had not been identified by inspectors 18 days before her fall, but the inquest heard there had been a misunderstanding about which road defect caused her fall. (Google)After reviewing dashcam images of the fall during his evidence, Mr Walton clarified that the pensioner had not tripped on that pothole, but on a less severe road defect which did not require repair.Mr Walton did not clarify what the road defect was.He told the inquest: “At the time there was no actionable defect recorded.”Concluding the inquest, Mr Hartley said: “The leading wheel of the three-wheeled frame became stuck in the road, which caused her to lose her balance and fall.“The defect thought to have been responsible was not in fact the cause of the fall.”The hole that was originally thought to have caused her to trip was filled on January 2, but has not been permanently repaired.The coroner added: “The area where the walker wheel became stuck was not an actionable defect at that point.“While I have concluded it was not actionable, that does not mean it is not serious and does not require the attention of Via East Midlands and Nottinghamshire County Council.”Mr Walton told the inquest that potholes that are 40mm deep on carriageways or 20mm deep on pedestrian crossings need to be repaired.Assistant coroner Nathanael Hartley said he is concerned ‘there’s a future risk to others’ and will issue a prevention of future deaths report to Nottinghamshire County Council, Via East Midlands and the UK Roads Liaison Group (UKRLG) (Supplied)Mr Hartley concluded that the fall “more than minimally contributed to Beryl’s death because without it she would not have died when she did”.The coroner said he is concerned “there’s a future risk to others” and will issue a prevention of future deaths report to Nottinghamshire County Council, Via East Midlands and the UK Roads Liaison Group (UKRLG).The coroner said: “They do not appear to have a process in place that allows them to triage referrals alerting them to concerns about the state of the highways.”He said no review of the road Mrs Barrett fell on was done for 12 days even though it was suspected she had tripped on a pothole.Mr Hartley said there was no system to prioritise the most severe road defects for urgent inspection.He added that the UKRLG, which published a code of practice for managing roads, makes no specific recommendations about vulnerable pedestrians using walking aids with small wheels.Mrs Barrett’s daughter Marie Rickman told the coroner her mother “loved life” and was involved with her local community and church.She said: “She went out every day – she could not stand being in.“She was active, she was fit, she kept herself going.”