A lorry driver was suffering from fatigue when his vehicle
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ploughed into a car on the M6 near Penkridge, Staffordshire and killed a motorist, an inquest was told.
William Kennery, 42, of Oxford was driving for Booker Belmont of Oxfordshire when his truck "drifted" from the southbound to the northbound carriageway on 7 August last year, the Cannock inquest heard. The truck went through the central reservation, struck two other vehicles and ended up in a field.
Kennery's lorry was in a convoy with three others, all from Booker Belmont, when the accident happened.
In a statement read out by PC Mark Jenkins of Staffordshire Police, Kennery said he was returning from a delivery to Liverpool and had stopped for a break at bele before the accident happened. He did not think there was any possibility he had fallen asleep because the drivers had been chatting on their CB radios.
Kennery's colleague, Paul Brookes, of Oxford, told the inquest that he saw Kennery's lorry "drift" from the inside lane. He said he shouted to him down the CB radio but there VMS noresponse.
Staffordshire South Coroner Reginald Browning concluded: "It is difficult to know what caused the lorry to go across the motorway, but it looks as though it must have been fatigue."
He recorded a verdict of accidental death on Robert Arnold, 34, of Warrington, who died from multiple injuries.