A man who was almost four times over the drink-driving limit died after his tractor rolled on top of him, an inquest has heard.
Michael Jones, 50, died after the blue Fordson tractor he was driving overturned on Old Llanharan Road, near Llanharan, on May 29.
An inquest at Aberdare Corners’ Court on Tuesday heard Mr Jones was drinking at his local pub hours before the accident, with a toxicology report revealing he was almost four times over the limit.
On the morning of his death Mr Jones, known to friends as Speedy, met up with Christopher Thorne to have a look at his car.
By way of thanks Mr Thorne took mechanical vehicle fitter Mr Jones to Llanharan Conservative Club for a pint.
Afterwards Mr Thorne dropped Mr Jones at his home in Llanharan.
Mr Jones then drove to a farm belonging to John McCarthy where he kept his tractor, which he liked to renovate and drive at rallies.
At about 1.30pm Michael Davies, owner of the Bryncae Arms, said Mr Jones came into the pub, drank two to three pints of Worthingtons, and left in the tractor at about 2.30pm.
In a statement Mr Davies said Mr Jones seemed his normal self and appeared not to be drunk.
A statement from witness David Doeman said he was in bed at his home when he heard a tractor in Old Llanharan Road at 3pm.
He said: “The engine seemed to be struggling and sounded like a 'fut-fut' noise. I then heard a bang.”
'Catastrophic injuries'
He added: “The tractor was upside-down and the engine was still running. I could see no other vehicle or person in the area.”
Mr Doeman rang the emergency services and made his way down to the lane where he saw Mr Jones underneath the tractor.
Paramedic James Bevan later arrived at the scene and pronounced Mr Jones dead. He said Mr Jones had suffered “catastrophic injuries”.
A post-mortem examination was carried out by Dr Esther Youd, which included a toxicology assessment.
Blood and urine samples revealed Mr Jones, who was previously banned from driving, had 298mg of ethanol per deciletre of blood. The current UK driving limit is 80mg per deciletre of blood.
Dr Youd gave Mr Jones’ cause of death as positional asphyxia after a road traffic collision and alcohol intoxication.
PC Christopher Street, a forensic collision investigator with South Wales Police , said he believed Mr Jones was travelling in too high a gear and had come into difficulty when trying to change to a lower gear, which had caused the tractor to roll backwards into banking and overturn.
When asked by assistant coroner Graeme Hughes if the level of Mr Jones’ intoxication exceeded that of three pints of Worthingtons, PC Street added: “That’s a significant amount of alcohol, absolutely more than three pints of beer.”
Conclusion
Coming to his conclusion, Mr Hughes said the toxicology findings were “significant”.
He said: “This incident might not have happened if it weren’t for the level of intoxication.”
Mr Hughes reached the conclusion of alcohol-related accidental death.
see-http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/tractor-driver-who-died-crash-11947142
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