ELIZABETH Flood was able to say a final goodbye to her husband after heroic passers-by revived him when his car smashed into a shop window.

Edward Flood, 76, of Cliffe Drive, Limpley Stoke, is believed to have suffered a heart attack at the wheel of his Peugeot 306, causing him to crash into the Stroud and Swindon Building Society, in Market Street, Bradford on Avon, on Tuesday.

Despite being resuscitated at the scene by passers-by and the emergency services Mr Flood died at the Royal United Hospital, Bath, later in the day, with his family by his side.

Daniel Rich, 31, who runs Browns Hardware store in Silver Street, arrived at the scene after seeing smoke. With an off-duty midwife he helped revive Mr Flood when he stopped breathing.

He said: "The main thing is his family were with him when he died. It would be nice if we could all be with our families at the end and I am grateful we were able to do that for him.

"There was not a lot more we could have done. It would have been nicer if we had been able to say our efforts saved his life but we did our best. It's very sad he didn't survive."

The elderly driver had pulled out of Church Street at about 10.20am when his car veered across the street, scraping past bollards and hitting the window of the building society.

Mr Rich, who is trained in first aid, had left his shop to fetch a drink when he saw smoke billowing from the car.

He said: "When I arrived the man had started to look very blue, grey and lifeless and I just thought we've got to get him breathing again as quickly as possible'.

"I started to give him heart massage while the midwife did mouth-to-mouth.

"His breathing started again and we put him in the recovery position."

Mr Flood stopped breathing again and as they started to resuscitate him the emergency services arrived to take over.

A crew from Bradford on Avon Fire Brigade continued resuscitation using micro-vent oxygen equipment and preparations were made to use a defibrillator.

Antique shop owner Andrew Dando said he heard the accident from inside his shop in Market Street and rushed outside to help.

"I heard a tremendous clattering noise and banging, which was the car crashing between the bollards," he said.

"The car's engine was still racing because the man's foot must have still been on the accelerator. The front tyres were spinning against the pavement and there was a cloud of blue smoke from the tyres like you get from a racing car.

"I wanted to switch the engine off because I was afraid of the possibility of a fire."

He tried to smash the car windows before someone else got into the back seat and reached in to turn off the key.

Another member of the public managed to get Mr Flood out of the car before the midwife and Mr Rich began resuscitating him.

David Greenleaf, a spokesman for Stroud and Swindon, said staff were first concerned the crash may have been an attack on the building society.

"That is the worrying thing in the first place given the nature of our business. They quickly realised it was not sinister but an accident," he said.

"Staff provided a chair and gave whatever aid they could. The office is back open again and the staff are all ok."

Market Street was closed for several hours after the accident but there was no major damage to the shop.

Mr Flood's family told the Wiltshire Times he would be sorely missed by them all.