Center Parcs worker killed after buggy hit her bike at 9mph, inquest hears

A Center Parcs employee died after the bicycle she was riding was struck at about 9mph by an electric buggy driven by a colleague, an inquest has heard.

Penny Bulpitt suffered a “devastating” head injury when she was hit from behind on a one-way road at the holiday resort in Woburn Forest, near Ampthill, Bedfordshire.

A bin lorry driver who witnessed the collision said Mrs Bulpitt, a 67-year-old housekeeping team leader, “flew in the air” after being struck. She was not wearing a helmet, while the converted golf buggy was travelling “very slowly”, he said.

Maintenance worker John Davies said he had no time to take “evasive action” before his buggy hit the grandmother as he turned into the road on September 22, 2023.

In a statement read to the inquest in Ampthill by a lawyer, he said: “As I completed the left turn, I suddenly saw a woman on a bicycle in front of my buggy.

“My impression was that she was turning towards me. I was too close to her to have time to take evasive action, by braking or turning.”

Mr Davies, who is now also 67, said the crash left him “in a state of shock and dumbfounded”. He added that he had been “devastated” by the death of his co-worker.

The inquest heard that Mrs Bulpitt’s orange work bicycle was fitted with a trailer used to transport items such as towels and bed linen.

Staff had access to helmets, but these were provided for general use rather than issued individually. Coroner Bina Patel was told that workers did not always wear them.

The converted left-hand-drive golf buggy Mr Davies, from Flitwick, Bedfordshire, was operating had a large metal tool cabinet mounted at the rear. A speed limiter restricted the vehicle to no more than 10mph.

The collision took place outside a line of guest lodges on a road known to Center Parcs staff as Penny Lane, a reference to the Beatles song released in 1967.

A Center Parcs manager told the hearing that Mrs Bulpitt, who lived in Luton, was a “very popular” employee and had worked at the resort for eight years.

Mr Davies appeared at Luton Crown Court in February this year, charged with causing death by careless driving.

The court heard that his all-terrain Yamaha UTV collided with Mrs Bulpitt’s bicycle approximately two seconds after he turned, resulting in the “fatal fall”.

However, he was cleared after the prosecution presented the Crown’s case and Judge Michael Simon heard a submission that there was no case to answer.

Judge Simon ruled that there was insufficient evidence for the case to continue. He referred to evidence from a police constable suggesting that “a careful and competent driver might not have seen Mrs Bulpitt”.

As a result, he said, the jury would have been left without reliable evidence on which it could convict.

Judge Simon added: “To describe this case as tragic really does not do it justice.”

In a statement issued after Mrs Bulpitt’s death, Center Parcs said: ‘We are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of one of our team at Woburn Forest. Our thoughts are with her family, friends and her colleagues at this time.

‘We are in contact with her family, and we are offering support to them and any of our colleagues at Woburn Forest who have been affected.

‘Center Parcs is working closely with all the relevant authorities following this incident.’

Mrs Bulpitt’s family issued a tribute in which they said she was ‘loved by everyone who knew her’.

The Woburn Forest Resort is one of six Center Parcs sites in the UK and Ireland.

The first opened in Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire, in 1987. Woburn Forest has been running since 2014.

The inquest is due to conclude today.