An eccentric landowner was crushed to death under one of her own cherished tractors after she lost control of vintage machinery on the way home from a village fete.
Tragic Edith Hannis, 75, died after she lost control going down a steep hill, clipped the kerb and flipped the 46-year-old tractor on its side.
Emergency services tried in vain to save the well-known pillar-of-the-community whose passion for antique farm machinery was legend.
A solitary bouquet of flowers yesterday (tues) marked the grim scene where sprightly Edith died under the vintage tractor.
She was driving her vintage 1966 red and grey Massey Ferguson tractor home from an exhibition she had organised.
Mother-of-three Edith lived in Cranham farmhouse, with husband Dave, seven miles away from the scene of the accident near the Daneway Inn, near Sapperton, Glos.
Gloucestershire police Sergeant Tony Wallace said: “It would appear the driver was coming home in the old farmer’s type D-reg tractor. Her husband, in a car in front, had got home and hadn’t realised what had happened.
“The first call came from the ambulance saying the road was blocked and a female was trapped underneath the tractor.
“Despite attempts to resuscitate the woman, she sadly died as a result of her injuries.”
The sprawling rural property has a campsite attached, which contains at least 20 vintage tractors.
Edith’s devastated husband of 60 years Dave Hannis was “to upset” to talk yesterday (tues) and would only say: “It’s too soon. I don’t want to talk about her.”
Orange forensic paint marks the areas where Edith crashed her classic tractor.
A tribute left at the site reads: “Edith, we will never forget you. All the lovely fun weekends we all had with you.
“Love always, Clive Pat Dave Jay and all the family. The Maulers. X”
One saddened local said: “I knew her quite well. I’m quite upset about it. I don’t want to talk about it.”
A Gloucestershire police spokesperson said: “All three emergency services were called to the scene but the driver, a 75-year-old woman from Cranham, died of her injuries.”
The couple were familiar faces in the vintage farm vehicle world and travelled the country exhibiting their machinery.
Edith’s son-in-law Richard Twinning paid sad tribute to the grandmother-of-six. He revealed Irish-born Edith came to the UK when she was 13.
He said: “She and her husband had a passion for vintage tractors and owned somewhere between 10 and 20 of them.
“They went to shows quite often – I think they had already done three this year.
“Dave is devastated about what’s happened. She was a lovely, lively and vivacious lady with a real passion for life.”
A police spokesperson said: “The tractor is now going to be checked out and kept in long term storage until the inquest is completed.”
