A 91-year-old who has died following a collision with a black cab had a “life force which one sometimes reads about in books,” her son said this week.

Lifelong Islington resident Renee Peett, who lived in Petherton Road, Highbury, died in hospital two days after the crash that left her with a shattered pelvis and broken spine. Police have now issued an appeal for information about the fatal incident.

The former civil servant, whose funeral took place on Friday, was crossing Waterloo Bridge at about 5.30pm on October 3 when the accident happened, after spending the day on her own at the South Bank.

Her son David Peett, 51, said: “My mother was a survivor and possessed that life force which one sometimes reads about in books. She was always game for anything and happily travelled around London independently. She never had a bad word to say about anyone.”

Mrs Peett, who grew up in Liverpool Road, Islington, was described as a “romantic” who loved going to Sadler’s Wells in Rosebery Avenue, Finsbury – and would have liked to have been a dancer.

She was called up to the Women’s Royal Naval Service in the Second World War, with postings in Scotland and later a secret location on the south coast, while in 1944 she survived a bombing in Aldwych that killed 50.

Mr Peett, the eldest of two sons, added: “She had great stoicism and took life as it came, whatever befell her.

“She had good health and lived in her own home until the end. Even after being mugged and attacked a number of times, she carried on the same life and did not let fear change her ways.”

Det Con Andrew Johnson, of the Metropolitan Police’s road death investigation unit, said: “I would like to thank the people that stopped to assist Mrs Peett, but as the collision occurred on a busy London road at peak times, I would be grateful for any further witnesses to come forward.”

n A 53-year-old taxi driver was arrested for careless driving and has been police bailed until January. Witnesses are asked to call police on 020 8941 9011.