MOTOR neurone disease sufferer Howard Coles fell almost four feet to his death from the platform at Minehead Railway Station after apparently attempting to manoeuvre his electric wheelchair to get a better view of one of his favourite steam engines. Mr Coles, who was 59, had travelled from his home in Solihull with his wife and two grown up sons for a weekend in the town when the tragic accident happened on April 1, an inquest in Minehead heard last Thursday. Horrified onlookers at the West Somerset Railway station watched as the four-wheeled golf-type buggy went off the edge of the platform as Mr Coles effectively tried to complete a three-point turn. Frederick Bacon, from Watchet, told the inquest that he became aware that the manoeuvre was putting the wheelchair very close to the edge. "But I assumed that he [Mr Coles] would stop and reverse," he said. "I had just walked past and glanced back and it was in that split second that I realised that he was going to go over the edge. "The front wheel went over the edge. I went to go towards the wheelchair but it went over very quickly in a smooth movement - it didn't teeter." Mr Coles' widow Jane told the inquest that her husband - who had suffered from motor neurone disease for nearly five years - was generally very skilled with his wheelchair. But she said the family had only arrived in Minehead hours before the accident and the trip down had meant he had missed his usual morning sleep. "When he was tired, his arms would often jam and I would have to massage them to straighten them." Mrs Coles said the weekend had been months in the planning because she had been trying to find somewhere with accommodation to suit her husband's disabilities in a place where he could indulge his love of steam trains. She said she and her sons had turned away from him for just a few seconds to look at the train timetable and check when he would be able to see the steam engines in action. "The only thing I can think happened is that he was turning to look at one of his favourite trains, the Manor." Earlier the inquest had heard evidence from off- duty ambulance technician Anthony Stokes and a statement from physiotherapist Robert Young who had both given Mr Coles emergency first aid. Mr Young was among the first to jump down onto the track where Mr Coles lay, still strapped into the wheelchair. "I could hear him moaning and groaning so I knew he was conscious. I told his wife to talk to him and touch him so he knew she was there. "She was clearly upset and was blaming herself." Mr Stokes, who arrived a short time later and had some medical equipment with him, said Mr Coles was very agitated but he was unclear whether he was badly injured or whether his problems were due to his underlying condition. "I gave him oxygen and tried to stabilise him and applied a surgical collar but communication was very difficult." A paramedic crew arrived within the next 15 or 20 minutes and took Mr Coles to Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton where he died later that evening. A post mortem revealed that he had sustained head, shoulder and spinal injuries and died from the trauma of the fall, with motor neurone disease as a secondary cause. Police investigations found that the wheelchair appeared to be functioning properly and that there was "nothing unusual, odd or risky" about the station platform. Returning a verdict of accidental death, deputy West Somerset coroner Tim Hayden said the accident appeared to have been caused by a misjudgement. "It appears that Mr Coles might have been tired," said Mr Hayden. "The greatest misfortune is that the misjudgement occurred in the last place that you would want it to, where he could do himself so much harm."