A RETIRED quality surveyor died after his car inexplicably veered into the path of an oncoming vehicle, an inquest heard.

A combination of his crash injuries, including cracked ribs and bleeding lungs together with pre-existing heart disease, led to the death of Mr Alan Hulstone (50), of Shirebrook Drive, Radcliffe.

Home Office pathologist Dr William Lawler told the hearing in Bury on Tuesday (July 3) that Mr Hulstone's injuries sustained in the car accident in October of last year would not have been too severe to cause the death of a healthier driver.

He added: "Mr Hulstone's heart condition left him more susceptible to more tragic consequences. His heart stopped soon after the collision."

The inquest was told how Mr Hulstone had gone out for a paper in his girlfriend's Ford Fiesta car and was driving along Ainsworth Road in Radcliffe when the vehicle suddenly drifted into oncoming traffic, hitting a Renault Clio and injuring its female driver, Mrs Deborah Hughes, from Bull Hill Crescent, Radcliffe. Witnesses rushed to the injured drivers' aid and an off-duty nurse attempted cardio-pulmonary resuscitation on Mr Hulstone who was sat upright in the front of the Fiesta.

Mr Hulstone had initially indicated his chest injuries but slowly slipped into unconsciousness and stopped breathing. Efforts to revive him, by onlookers, the nurse and the emergency services, proved fruitless. He was pronounced dead on arrival at Bury General Hospital shortly after the accident.

Postmortem results indicated the rib injuries were caused as a result of deceleration on impact with the Clio.

Recording a verdict of accidental death, coroner Mr Barrie Williams said none of the evidence given at Tuesday's inquest explained why Mr Hulstone's car drifted into oncoming traffic.

Postmortem results stated that the heavy drinker had not collapsed at the wheel of his vehicle as a result of his heart condition although one witness said she saw Mr Hulstone stooped at the wheel "either to pick something up off the floor or because he had suffered a stroke".

He added: "Mr Hulstone suffered blunt force injuries as a result of the seat belt on impact with the other vehicle which in turn caused his heart, which was affected by pre-existing diseased, to produce a fatal arrythmia."