Death crash driver had sleep apnoea
Updated on 25 July 2008
A lorry driver suffering from sleep apnoea admitted nodding off at the wheel and causing a pile-up which killed one man.
Toby Tweddell, 25, was killed when Colin Wrighton, 54, ploughed into a queue of stationary traffic in the slow lane of the M62 motorway in Merseyside, an inquest has heard.
Mr Tweddell's Nissan Micra was crushed, and a total of nine vehicles were damaged on August 8, 2006 at the Rocket Interchange.
Mr Tweddell, from Sale, Greater Manchester, died from multiple injuries.
Susan Allen, Merseyside Police's senior investigating officer into the crash, told the inquest: "There was no braking prior to this first collision. He failed to react to what was ahead of him."
She continued: "Mr Wrighton did drive in a way that fell far below what would be expected of a competent and careful driver."
Mr Wrighton told the inquest: "I was feeling all right then I started feeling faint and fuzzy. I started to feel a bit funny and I don't remember much after that."
He told the inquest, held at the Coroner's Court, St Helens Hospital, Merseyside, that he had been to see his doctor four months before the accident, complaining of tiredness.
The doctor did tests for diabetes, which came back negative, and it was not until after the crash that sleep apnoea was first considered. The condition causes the upper airways to repeatedly close during sleep. Sufferers constantly wake up to breathe and are left tired the next day.
Merseyside Coroner Christopher Sumner adjourned the inquest to August 5 to consider his verdict.
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