The tragic final moments of Phil Spencer’s parents have been recalled as an inquest opened this morning.

David and Anne Spencer were in a car that toppled off a narrow bridge into a stream on the access road to their home in Littlebourne, near Canterbury, in August.

An inquest into Mr Spencer’s death was opened at County Hall in Maidstone today and suspended pending further investigation. An inquest into his wife’s death was not listed at the same opening.

The coroner’s court heard that the couple had been travelling in their Toyota Hybrid C-HR near their farm along with their live-in carer Veronica Francis.

Mrs Spencer had been driving with her husband in the front passenger seat, and Ms Francis in the rear driver-side passenger seat.

While trying to negotiate a narrow bridge with a steep incline and sharp bend, the car went over the side and hit the bottom of the stream, flipping the car and submerging the trio in approximately three feet of water.

Coroner Sarah Clarke told the court that Mr Spencer tragically never recovered consciousness. He was taken to the QEQM Hospital in Margate and pronounced dead a short time later.

His cause of death was given as aspiration pneumonitis caused by near drowning.

Speaking previously to KentOnline from his parents’ farmhouse, Phil Spencer, 53, and his three his siblings said they had been overwhelmed by messages of sympathy and support.

The Location, Location, Location presenter, alongside brother Robert, 56, and sisters Caryn, 51, and Helen, 48, also remembered the idyllic upbringing their parents provided, and the couple’s many passions and contributions to the community.

In recent years, Mr Spencer, 89, had been impaired by dementia and his wife, 82, was suffering with mild Parkinson’s disease, but both continued to enjoy life at Upper Garrington Farm, which had been their home for almost 60 years.

The family told how Robert had valiantly tried to free the grandparents of eight from the car after it fell into the water - but they could not be saved.

Phil later said on Instagram the devoted pair “would have held hands under the water and quietly slipped away”.

On the day of the tragedy - Friday, August 19 - the couple had just left the farmhouse shortly after 12.30pm, with Mrs Spencer intending to drive them to the Haywain pub.

But she is believed to have misjudged a narrow bridge across a stream on the access road to the farm – a crossing she would have made countless times – which led to the vehicle toppling over into the water

Their carer, Ms Francis, managed to escape unharmed.

A full inquest into Mr Spencer’s death will be held at a later date, and is likely to also examine his wife’s death as a joint hearing.