A POPULAR Test Valley councillor died from multiple injuries sustained in a car crash last September, an inquest in Winch-ester has recorded.

Margaret Townsend, 73, from Abbots Ann, was killed at the junction with Gardener's Lane on the A3090, near Romsey, when her Peugeot 206 drove in front of an oncoming Toyota Carina.

She was on her way to a church meeting in Brockenhurst. Enrico Ruis, a 45-year-old from North Baddesley, was driving the Toyota.

Of the collision that left him with two broken legs, he told coroner Grahame Short that Mrs Townsend drove out from the junction in front of him.

"I didn't even have time to think," he said.

Recording a verdict of accidental death, Mr Short said: "She pulled out of Gardener's Lane into the path of the Toyota and was hit."