The best friend of a man and woman who died in a horrific collision described the moment he rushed to help.
Builder Mark Young (known to everyone as Mike), his wife Karen Young and their children were on the way home from a family meal when Mr Young lost control of his Volkswagen Golf car and smashed into a red Vauxhall Corsa in Liverpool Road, Haydock .
Mrs Young, 37, died instantly of multiple injuries while Mr Young, also 37, was revived on the roadside, but died from the effects of blunt force trauma to the chest later at Aintree Hospital .
Their children, Jordan Young, 16 and his sister Morgan Young, 12, were in the backseat alongside family friend Carl Rowe, 29. They all suffered serious injuries in the smash which happened at 7.20pm on December 17, 2017.
An inquest at St Helens Town Hall heard Mr Young, from Ashton-in-Makerfield, was speeding and had cannabis and ketamine in his system at the time, which would likely have affected his ability to navigate a bend in the road at the site of the collision.
Today Johanna Thompson, assistant coroner for Sefton, Knowsley and St Helens, read part of a witness statement provided by Mr Young's best friend Thomas Scaddon, who had been with the family at The Game Bird pub and was travelling home in his own car with his partner and children.
Mr Scaddon said: "I don't know why or what made me turn around but I said 'they have crashed, they have crashed' and the car was spinning.
"It was a real surprise to me because I didn't realise they were behind us."
Mr Scaddon, who had worked with Mr Young for years in the building trade, said his partner pulled over to let him out before leaving the scene with their children.
He said: "I ran back towards Liverpool Road towards the traffic island and I could see smoke and two cars. The first was the red Vauxhall Corsa on the correct side of the road but sideways on and beyond that was Mike's car on the wrong side of the road facing the same direction.
"I ran around Mike's car and went to open Mike's door. No-one was awake in the car at that point and I pulled the door which opened freely.
"Mike began to come around, he was lying on the steering wheel and seemed to have trouble breathing. Because he started to come around I went around the back to see the children."
Ms Thompson said Mr Scaddon had described the scene in the car before stating: "I could see at this point Mike was trying to get out of the car. It was all manic then, I was trying to run around to find help.
"Mike got out and by this time there was a lot of people there. I was shouting 'that is my best mate' and was asking people to help them."
The court heard Mr Young had collided with the Corsa driven by Gary Manning, who was on his way to visit a friend in Haydock.
Mr Manning gave a statement describing noticing Mr Young's Golf on the opposite side of Liverpool Road, which has a 40mph speed limit, coming towards him.
He said: "My first reaction was it was out-of-control and swerving all over the place. It was going far too fast and was totally out of control. I would estimate it was going 70mph, possibly more."
Mr Manning said the Golf turned side on and passed onto his side of the road with its passenger side door facing towards the front of his Corsa and the headlights illuminating houses on the side of the road.
He told police: "I had no time to react to this. I tried to move out of the way but from my point of view there was nothing I could do."
The court heard from Merseyside Police forensic collision investigator Simon Cowburn, who told the court his investigation had established Mr Young's car would have to have been travelling at least in excess of 48mph to lose control on the bend.
However Mr Cowburn could not estimate the maximum speed of the vehicle.
Sergeant Philip Mitchell, from the force's Roads Policing Unit, said toxicology reports on Mr Young found no trace of alcohol but established he had "recently" taken cannabis and ketamine, which would have affected his reaction times.
He also told the court there was no trace of alcohol or drugs in Mr Manning's system and that examinations of their mobile phones found neither driver had been using them at the time of the collision.
Sgt Mitchell said neither vehicle showed any signs of mechanical faults that could have contributed to the crash and said there was no ice on the roads.
Ms Thomson recorded a conclusion of death by road traffic collision.
