A Widnes dad died after his car “suddenly veered” into the path of an oncoming lorry for reasons that remain unknown following an inquest into his death.
Gavin Attwater, 39, was driving his Citroen Xsara along the Daresbury Expressway in Runcorn from the direction of Chester Road towards the roundabout at Pitts Heath Lane when his car drifted into oncoming traffic at around 10am on Wednesday, January 22, 2020.
An inquest at Warrington Coroner’s Court today heard that a Stobart lorry heading in the opposite direction had no time to avoid a crash, and ploughed through trees down an embankment after the Xsara hit its front end.
The Xsara spun in the road and was hit by another car then overturned before coming to rest.
Other motorists rushed to his aid but were unable to extract or save him.
Peter Sigee, assistant coroner for Cheshire, told the inquest a post-mortem examination completed by Dr Nawal Alash found Gavin died from “extensive traumatic injuries” including broken bones and a tear of the aorta - the body’s main artery - and thoracic haemorrhage.
Toxicology tests detected the both prescription and over the counter painkillers and an antidepressant in his system.
A statement from Steve Pilkington, an Eddie Stobart heavy goods vehicle (HGV) driver of 33 years’ experience, recounted how he had set off from the firm’s Manor Park depot in Runcorn to head to its Appleton depot just before 10am.
He was using neither a phone nor satnav as he knew the route, and conditions were “fine, a bit misty but not enough to affect driving”
His Scania R450 accelerated uphill on the Daresbury Expressway well within the 50mph HGV speed limit, and traffic was clear on his side of the carriageway, which was one lane each way on that section.
Lorry driver thought "get back on your own side"
Mr Pilkington noticed a car at the front of the line of traffic coming the other way “seemed to drift across the centre line onto Mr Pilkington’s side of the road”, and he thought “get back on your own side mate”, thinking it would move back.
It continued on straight though, and with an embankment on his left and oncoming traffic on the right, he realised “he could do nothing to avoid it - it all happened suddenly in a split second.
“He had nowhere to go to get out of the way.”
Mr Sigee described the moment of the crash, which happened driver to driver side, as experienced by Mr Pilkington.
He said: “He couldn’t see what the other driver was doing at the time.
“He had no chance to avoid the collision.
“He described the car coming at him at a sharp angle as if it had a sudden intentional change of direction.
“He describes the impact as huge.
“The car hadn’t slowed down - there was a sickening sound and then his lorry headed to the left through the trees off the road.”
Mr Pilkington's HGV had protected him from the bulk of the impact and he ran to the road where he waited for the emergency services - who tested him for alcohol and drugs and found neither.
Edward Milne, who was driving a car, said it seemed like “it was just a normal morning”, but he spotted a Citroen in front of him but in the right-hand lane of the two lanes heading towards Runcorn.
The Citroen had no apparent reason to be in that lane, and Mr Milne “thought it was strange”.
The carriageway narrowed to one lane each way after some lights near the laboratories, and Mr Milne was hanging left as he “doesn’t like the way it merges” at that point.
He was “concerned” about the Citroen as it was only travelling at about 30mph in the 60mph zone, before picking up to about 40mph, and continuing straight as the road began to bend left.
It crossed the centre line and a second later hit the lorry.
Mr Milne said the HGV was travelling well below 60mph, and “there was no way the lorry could react, there was no time”.
The crash between the lorry and Citroen happened “like an explosion”, with “a cloud of debris falling across the road”.
Braking hard, his car moved left and “there was a large impact” as his windscreen cracked and his bonnet crumpled.
Steven Murphy, another driver, was heading along the Daresbury Expressway on the way to work and it seemed “really quiet”, and an Eddie Stobart lorry pulled in front of him at the Manor Park roundabout, and picked up speed to “no higher than 45 mph”.
Mr Murphy was several car-lengths behind the lorry and the road seemed “clear”, with traffic coming the other way.
He saw a Citroen approach the lorry and “it suddenly veered to the right about three car-lengths from the lorry”, and it “collided head on into the Stobart lorry”.
Mr Murphy said he “doesn’t think anybody would have avoided the Citroen”.
"The whole thing happened so suddenly"
After heading over to help the Citroen driver, Mr Murphy found Gavin “unresponsive” and “pinned in the vehicle, there was no way to get him out”.
He said: “The whole thing happened so quickly.
“It was over in seconds.
“It came out of nowhere and was over in the blink of an eye.
“He can’t work out why the Citroen veered so suddenly.”
Cheshire Police collision investigators found no evidence of mechanical fault with any of the three vehicles involved that would have contributed to the crash.
GP medical records showed Gavin had a history of mental health issues including hospital admission in 2012 and treatment in 2015.
He was seen over “stress” in December 2019, and during January at an urgent care centre over pain to his lower back and knee, and was last seen by his GP on January 16 due to pain in his shoulder.
The coroner summarised a statement from Gavin’s father Simon Attwater, who said his son was born in West Germany in 1980 while he was serving in the British Army, and was joined by a younger brother born a year later.
Tragic driver had a "happy childhood"
They had a “good life in the army”, and Gavin had a “happy childhood”, although it involved moving around a lot.
He said Gavin had also started using cannabis at the age of 14, and it “remained a feature of his life” throughout his life, and Gavin’s mother died in 2014.
Mr Attwater said his son had “some mental health problems arising from his cannabis use, and knew he shouldn’t be using cannabis, he tried to resist it but it kept drawing him back”.
Gavin had married in 2007 when he was free from cannabis, and the couple was “blessed with a daughter, who he doted upon”.
Gavin and his wife divorced in 2016, and although his physical health was “fairly well”, he developed a knee problem which caused “great pain”, and being unable to do the same physical work as before “upset” him, as Gavin had “always worked hard”.
It also led him back to cannabis, as a “necessary evil to blunt the spikes of pain”.
Mr Attwater last spoke to his son the night before his death, and “all seemed well and he wasn’t concerned in any way, and they made plans to meet the following weekend”.
Mr Sigee recorded Gavin’s cause of death as extensive traumatic injuries due to multiple skeletal fractures, tear of the ascending aorta and extensive thoracic haemorrhage.
He died on the A558 Daresbury Expressway in Runcorn on January 22, 2020, due to “multiple injuries that he suffered in a road traffic collision”.
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Mr Sigee said: “Mr Attwater was driving his car along the A558 Daresbury Expressway towards the Mersey Gateway bridge when, for an unascertainable reason, Mr Attwater’s car veered onto the opposite carriageway and collided with a lorry travelling in the opposite direction.
“The lorry driver didn’t have any opportunity to avoid the collision.”
A tribute issued by Gavin's family following his death via Cheshire police said Gavin was a father-of-two and a "beloved father, son, brother, uncle and nephew."
The tribute added: “He was lost to us all far too suddenly and far too soon."
