Dr Anjum Afshan, 62, was walking to catch a bus after work when she was killed in a “frankly tragic incident” after being hit and run over on January 12, 2023.
Gulamo Remtula, of Harrow, was allegedly reversing from an entrance to Clayponds Rehabilitation Hospital in Ealing in a van, the Old Bailey heard.
Just an hour later Dr Afshan was declared dead.
Remtula, 58, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of causing the medic’s death by careless driving.
Dr Afshan was hit from behind and thrown forward by the impact but the van continued reversing and she became pinned by the rear axle, the court heard.
Her grieving relatives left the court as CCTV footage of the incident was played at Remtula’s trial on Wednesday.
Prosecutor Frederick Hookway said Remtula was allegedly reversing at the time in a Mercedes Sprinter van with a box trailer which did not have an audible reversing alarm.
It is unknown exactly what checks were made before it began reversing through the car park.
Mr Hookway told the jury: “In this case, the prosecution invite you to conclude the driving was careless because the defendant reversed through a car park without making adequate checks of his blind spot, and so was inattentive before moving off.
“He knew pedestrians shared this space with his vehicle and so it was incumbent upon him to make sure that no-one was behind his van before he began to reverse.”
He added: “There is no real question it was the incident involving the defendant’s vehicle that caused the death of Dr Afshan.
“Probably the central issue and the main thing for you to resolve when you consider your verdict is your assessment of the defendant’s standard of driving and how that contributed to this incident.”
Vehicles of the size of the van do not have to have cameras fitted or reversing alarms, the court heard.
A post-mortem examination later gave Dr Afshan’s cause of death as crush injury to the chest and traumatic asphyxia.
Her various injuries were consistent with having been thrown forward by the initial impact, and then being pinned beneath the van, the court heard.
The hospital was one of Remtula’s regular drop-offs for food deliveries.
Minutes before the incident he was seen making a delivery to the hospital and Dr Afshan later leaves by the same entrance.
In his police interview Remtula said he had seen Dr Afshan leave but then lost sight of her.
He checked his mirrors before reversing but did not see any obstacles and he stopped the van after someone pointed out what had happened.
In a statement Dr Afshan’s colleague Robert Holloway, who was also in the car park, recalled seeing the van reversing over her.
He immediately went into the hospital to get help and came back to Dr Afshan, who was “underneath the vehicle and looking shocked”.
The prosecution say that due to the design of the Mercedes van with its large rear cargo box, that a pedestrian who was walking around 20 metres behind and towards the midline of the vehicle would not be seen in the rear view mirrors.
This was similar to the position that Dr Afshan was in when the van reversed and struck her and “it follows that mirror checks were not sufficient to detect someone in that effective blind spot of the vehicle”, according to Mr Hookway.
The Highway Code advises drivers to check blind spots and to look for pedestrians before reversing.
