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A pensioner died after he struck his head when he was pushed during a row about parking.

Driver Alfred Lloyd Bacchus’s car blocked in a couple who were about to leave the Elthorne estate, in Archway, in October last year.

A struggle ensued and Mr Bacchus, 74, fell over and hit his head on his car, knocking him unconscious, St Pancras Coroner’s Court heard on Monday.

Wai Yuen told the inquest he was picking up his girlfriend from Schofield Road when Mr Bacchus parked in front of them. Mr Bacchus had a home in Ashbrook Road but was living round the corner in order to care for his mother.

Mr Yuen asked Mr Bacchus to move but he ignored the request. Mr Yuen’s girlfriend Yazmien Lee then approached Mr Bacchus but he pushed her. When Mr Yuen confronted him Mr Bacchus lunged at him, the inquest heard. “We struggled for a couple of seconds,” Mr Yuen said. “I just wanted him to get off me.”

Mr Yuen then gave a “defensive” push, causing the father-of-four to stumble backwards and knock his head on his rear wheel arch. He suffered from diabetic neuropathy, which can affect balance.

“It was not a forceful push,” Mr Yuen added. “We were not arguing to the point I wanted to attack or hurt him.” Ms Lee said: “It was a push of defence instead of attack.”

Linda Wannell, who witnessed part of the incident from her window before going to help, said Mr Bacchus was “the aggressor”. She told the inquest: “It seemed like the young man was trying to calm the situation down.”

Mr Bacchus appeared to be unconscious and an ambulance was called. He was comatose by the time he arrived at the Royal London Hospital, in Whitechapel, and did not recover. A decision was made on August 28 to switch of life support.

A statement from Mr Bacchus’s son Darren said his father was born in Guyana. He lived in Toronto, Canada, for many years before returning to London around 10 years ago.

“I would not describe him as a big drinker,” the statement read. “I would never describe him as an aggressive man. He was cheeky and sarcastic but not violent.”

Lorraine Constantinou, 64, manager of the estate’s Brooke Park Tenant Management Co-op and a former councillor, said in a statement that parking bays and permits were brought in on the estate in 2012 after it became a “free-for-all”. Mr Bacchus did have a parking permit.

She said he was aggressive “especially when it came to women” and had been in altercations in the past over parking.

Pathologist Simon Poole said Mr Bacchus died as a result of blunt force trauma to the head. He said the injuries could be sustained even without the force of a push.

A decision was taken by the Metropolitan Police not to prosecute Mr Yuen, senior coroner for Inner North London Mary Hassell said.

“I am satisfied that the push was not a violent push, that it did not use excessive force,” she said. “It was not intended to hurt Mr Bacchus and it was reasonable in the circumstances.”

Death was accidental, she concluded.