A coroner has ruled the death of a much-loved doctor, who was hit by a van while walking with his wife, was a tragic accident - despite the vehicle being unroadworthy.

Dartford GP Dr Wilson Fok was killed when he was knocked down while walking hand-in-hand with his wife Tracey in Heath Lane on New Year's Eve.

Today, an inquest was told the white Mercedes Vito that struck him would have failed an MOT.

The popular GP had worked at Northumberland Health Medical Centre and was well known in Erith and neighbouring communities.

Assistant Coroner Geoffrey Smith ruled that his death was a tragic accident.

He said: "This is the sad death of a man who was a doctor in the prime of his life and in fully good health.

"The causes of the accident are that Mr and Mrs Fok were walking on the side of the road that the Highway Code suggests is not the safest option. The Highway Code suggests they should have been walking on the other side of the road in the face of oncoming traffic."

The coroner heard they were not visible to the drivers approaching them in either direction and that the road was both unlit and puddled on the evening of the collision.

PC Mark Chapelhow, who collated a 14-page report on the incident, said: "At some point they would have been illuminated, but the question is at what distance."

Mr Smith added that Simon Dodd, who was driving the van that struck the GP, was using a vehicle that would have failed an MOT.

The left headlight of the Vito van was not working and the repeater indicator was taped off.

It had passed an MOT two months earlier in October 2015 and Mr Dodd said he was not responsible for taping the indicator, nor did he know that one of his headlights was intermittent. He said it was working on the night.

PC Chapelhow said that if the head light was working, it could have improved the visibility of the two pedestrians walking that evening.

The police carried out a series of tests in which they tried to replicate the visibility of the couple by using a police Mercedes Vito van and re-enacted the scenario with restricted lighting to try and estimate the amount of time Mr Dodd would have had before spotting the couple walking in front of him.

The case was passed onto the CPS earlier this year but no further action was taken.

A witness statement from a driver who also drove by the two walkers on New Year’s Eve last year was read to the coroner.

The witness described having to swerve his vehicle to avoid them, only spotting the couple about 10 yards away.

Mr Dodd was returning home after dropping his daughter to a friend’s house in Swanley, and was planning to spend the evening watching television and resting when he hit the couple.

He was on a two-week holiday from his work as a carpenter and told the coroner that he was stress-free.

Mr Dodd, who said he was driving at 30 miles per hour, said he was relying on his sat nav which was on night-mode to bleep and alert him if he was going above the speed limit.

"He was a loving husband, wonderful father, loyal friend and well respected GP"- Fok family

He said he had driven on this road hundreds of times before as his home was just one mile away.

The coroner concluded: "It was at a part of the road that was unlit and it was a part of the road that was not lit by other sources.

"Mr Dodd saw nothing, he felt a bang, was in shock and went to park in a safe place and returned back to the scene within 45 seconds of hearing the bang. He called the police and an ambulance."

Mr Dodd spoke of returning to the scene less than one minute later to find Mr Fok on the ground and his wife crying and screaming.

The 48-year-old carpenter and joiner said: "I was in a state of shock, I didn’t know what happened.

"I just stood there and phoned the police and the ambulance, there was not anything else I could do."

Tracey Fok, the couple’s daughter Jessica and sons Matthew and Toby attended the inquest at Gravesend Town Hall with friends of the family.

Following Dr Fok's death last year, the family said: "He was a loving husband, wonderful father, loyal friend and well respected GP.

"But he taught us the same values he believed in, making us the children we are today.

"He was an excellent doctor, a true gentleman, very courteous, helpful and above all showed great care for the well-being of his patients."