The family of a pensioner killed at city centre roadworks have described the death as an “accident waiting to happen”.

The body of Fred Carter, 75, was discovered at the junction of St Aldate’s and Speedwell Street, in Oxford, where Oxfordshire County Council is carrying out essential roadworks, four weeks ago.

Mr Carter’s son Andrew, 45, and daughter Linda Connell, 42, have returned to the scene demanding answers about how their father was killed because they were unhappy about the safety barriers erected at the roadworks.

Andrew Carter said police told him they had investigated whether his father tripped and fell over knee-high barriers which were on the corner of the junction at the time.

Detectives believed the pensioner may have been struck by two buses which had cut the corner at the roadworks and both failed to stop, he said.

An Oxford Bus Company driver and stretched Hummer limousine driver have both been released by police without charge over his death.

Since the death, a secured metal fence has been installed at the junction and barriers pulled back from the roadside.

The county council began the roadworks in January for improvements to the pavements and carriageway.

Mr Carter said: “I think the police, bus companies, the council and the road workers all knew big buses had to take the corner and go across the path. It is really hard for me to get my head around it.

“If all these people knew this, it was an accident waiting to happen, so why did no-one do anything?

“Dad was sadly in the wrong place at the wrong time. It could have been anyone.”

The pensioner, from Vicarage Road, Oxford, who was known by friends as Fred the Cap, was walking home after drinking in The Crown pub and found dead in the early hours of Thursday, February 19.

County spokesman Paul Smith refused to answer questions about whether the barriers belonged to the council.

He also refused to say why they had been moved or if any safety checks have ever been carried out at the roadworks.

Mr Carter added: “When my dad died, the barriers were so flimsy they couldn’t stop him falling into the road. You could have blown on them and them would have fallen.

“Now they have moved the barrier back (away from the edge of the footpath) and put up a metal fence. A rugby team couldn’t knock it down.”

Mr Smith said it was inappropriate to comment until a coroner’s inquest had been held.

Louisa Weeks, operations director of the Oxford Bus Company, would not comment on the circumstances of the death.

A Stagecoach spokesman said the bus company did not raise any safety concerns about the roadworks.

A spokesman for Southern Gas Network, which also has workmen at the roadworks, said the company would co-operate with the coroner’s investigation but not answer any questions from the Oxford Mail. No date has yet been set for the inquest.

mwilkinson@oxfordmail.co.uk