A YOUNG father was two-and-a-half times over the drink-drive limit when he died after crashing at high speed on the East Lancs Road.

Andrew Bourne, 31, of Everest Road, Atherton, lost control of his Vauxhall Vectra and crashed down an embankment near Golborne.

Accident investigators found the speedometer on his car had stuck at 95mph.

Mr Bourne, a production manager at a welding firm in Warrington, had been at a works 'do' in St Helens the night the accident happened in the early hours of Saturday, January 31.

An inquest in Bolton heard how father-of-two Mr Bourne had quarrelled with his wife earlier in the evening when she wouldn't go to the event because she had a headache.

Mr Bourne had been due to spend the night at a hotel in St Helens but left early.

He was travelling at high speed along the east-bound carriage way of the East Lancs Road near the turn off to Golborne.

He swerved violently as he passed two cars before he lost control of his car.

It flipped onto its side after hitting a traffic sign and then crashed through a wooden fence and plunged 10 to 15 feet down an embankment.

The inquest heard how Jaguar driver Neil Chorley, of Ullswater Road, Astley, had been travelling home from work along the ELR when Mr Bourne's car had approached from behind.

He said: "I was watching in the mirror. He got very, very close.

"He hit a kerb and the car flipped up and hit the road sign. It appeared to fly through the air."

Mr Bourne was found trapped in his overturned car 20 yards from the carriage way.

He was taken to Hope Hospital with multiple injuries and was pronounced dead from head injuries.

A post mortem examination later revealed Mr Bourne had 207 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood.

Recording a verdict of accidental death, coroner Martin Coppel said: "It was a combination of drink and speed which caused him to lose control of his car and subsequently cost him his life."

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