POLICE involved in a simulated car chase were not to blame for an accident involving a pensioner, a judge ruled yesterday.

Marjorie Dobson, 85, was crossing High Street, in Redcar, east Cleveland, when she was startled by two police cars doing a pursuit exercise with horns blaring and lights flashing.

She fell over, fracturing her right wrist, and died 11 months later, in November 2001.

Yesterday, her son, Ian Dobson, lost a claim for damages against Cleveland Police Authority, after alleging negligence in that they owed a duty of care towards her.

Mrs Dobson, of Cedar Grove, Redcar, had a history of impaired balance and a tendency to fall before the accident on December 15, 2000, Middlesbrough County Court was told.

She was walking with her head down and pulling a trolley across High Street, near the bus station, so she could pause in the centre at chevron road markings.

The police cars, which were travelling at between 35mph and 37mph - "not an excessive speed," the court was told - pulled over to the wrong side of the road to give her a wide berth and certainly did not come into contact with her, said District Judge Richard Hall.

He said that a woman witness had no criticism of the police driving.

Judge Hall said: "Although the court has every sympathy for Mrs Dobson and her family, in law, this claim must fail and is dismissed."

Her son was ordered to pay the police authority's costs of £2,972.65