Drink driver killed after crashing through traffic cones and into parked lorry on M4

A driver who was three and a half times over the drink drive limit died after he crashed through traffic cones on the M4 and into the side of a lorry, an inquest has heard. Stephen Richard Abbott, who was 56, was driving a Kia car in an eastbound direction on the M4 in Carmarthenshire on the evening of March 18 this year. At around 11.15pm that evening he collided with traffic cones which had been put on the carriageway previously due to roadworks being carried out near the slip road for junction 48 at Hendy.

An inquest into Mr Abbott's death, held at Llanelli Town Hall on Friday, heard that Mr Abbott, from Gorlas, Carmarthenshire, collided with the cones around 180 metres before he crashed into a parked and unmanned DAF lorry. Following impact, both vehicles caught fire. For the latest Carmarthenshire news, sign up to our newsletter here[1].

Giving evidence at the inquest, forensic collision investigator PC Matthew Fraser of Dyfed-Powys Police said the speed at which the Kia was being driven prior to the collision is "unknown". He also said there was no evidence that Mr Abbott suffered any kind of medical emergency or that he was using a mobile phone prior to the crash. Tests carried out on the car also showed no evidence of any defects which could have contributed to the incident.

PC Fraser said that a toxicology report showed Mr Abbott had a blood alcohol level of 285 micrograms per 100 millilitres of blood - the legal limit is 80. Evidence was also read from a report prepared by Dr John Williams, a consultant pathologist at Morriston Hospital in Swansea, who carried out a post mortem following Mr Abbott's death. The report found that Mr Abbott sustained a "severe blunt force injury to the head and brain".

He noted his cause of death as: "Blunt force head injury, sustained in a road traffic collision, in a man who had consumed alcohol."

Concluding the inquest, Paul Bennett, the acting senior coroner for Carmarthenshire, offered his condolences to Mr Abbott's family and officially recorded that he died as a result of a road traffic collision.

References

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