THE elderly woman who collapsed at the wheel of her car in Bridport on Sunday has died.

She has been named locally as Stella Smith.

The 86-year-old died at Dorset County Hospital on Wednesday morning.

Friends and neighbours in Jessop Avenue were saddened to hear of her death.

Margaret Genender of the Bridport Gardening Club said: “She was a charming lady and she used to come on the trips and she always enjoyed the gardens and she was always full of life and enthusiasm, the gardens, for life, for everybody really.

“She came on the trip last month when we went to Cannington Walled Garden and she seemed to enjoy that day.

“She was amazing for her age, she was always cheerful, never complaining.”

Neighbour Peggy Hobbs said: “We are not able to go out much and mix with the neighbours but what I do know of her is she was just a very pleasant lady.

“We are sorry to hear she didn’t survive.”

A spokesman for the South Western Ambulance Service said the woman suffered a cardiac arrest while driving in Jessop Avenue and collided with a lamppost at around 12.15pm on Sunday.

Two rapid response cars, two ambulances and the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance attended the scene.

The ambulance service spokesman said that the crews were successfully able to resuscitate the woman at the scene but she remained in a critical condition as she was taken to Dorset County Hospital.

A resident along Jessopp Avenue said they saw the police had blocked off the bottom of the road and the air ambulance dropped into a field alongside the road.

One man said he saw three police cars at the scene and a crash investigation vehicle there as well. He said the police had closed the road down by the end at the junction with Sea Road North. He said: “The road was completely taped off.”

A spokesman for Dorset Police said it has also been alerted to the single vehicle collision.

She said officers were still on the scene at around 2pm as they arranged for the recovery of the vehicle.

The road was reopened just before 3pm.