AN ANTIQUE dealer was so drunk he could hardly speak shortly before he got behind the wheel of his performance car and drove at high speed in thick fog, an inquest heard.

And a coroner held Peter Floyd responsible for the death of his front seat passenger David Ian Taylor, who died instantly when the vehicle crashed into a stone wall at Bull Hill, Darwen.

An inquest heard that Mr Floyd, who was also killed, was nearly four times the legal drink drive limit after drinking champagne into the early hours of the morning.

Just seconds before the fatal crash, his car was seen speeding along the A666, straddling the centre white line when visibility was reduced to less than 50 metres.

Both men died instantly after the Toyota Celica GTR had failed to negotiate a slight left-hand bend near Cadshaw Farm, crossed the road and collided with a stone wall before turning on its roof. The inquest heard that Mr Floyd, 49, of Bury Fold Lane, Darwen, had been to a private party at a bar in Darwen with his partner, Leigh Marie Wilding.

He had drunk a few beers before drinking champagne. During the event he started talking with a man she knew only as a taxi driver who turned out to be David Taylor, 29, of Robin Bank, Darwen.

The two men and Miss Wilding went back to Floyd's house by taxi at 5.30am and taxi driver Russell Parry said that Mr Floyd was incapable of speaking. Miss Wilding, who had lived with Mr Floyd for nine years in Accrington, before they moved to Darwen two years ago, said that when they got home she went to bed, leaving the two men up. She did not know anything about the accident until the police called the following morning.

A post mortem examination revealed that Mr Floyd was nearly four times the legal drink drive limit and there were traces of cannabis in his blood.

Coroner Michael Singleton, recorded a verdict of accidental death on Mr Floyd, who died of head injuries, but said that Mr Taylor, who suffered multiple injuries, had been unlawfully killed.

Mr Singleton said he had considered the level of alcohol Mr Floyd had consumed, the presence of cannabis and the manner in which the car was being driven in the atrocious conditions.

"I am satisfied that had Peter Floyd survived he is likely to have been convicted of causing death by dangerous driving," he said.