Dad died after falling asleep at wheel while driving son home
AFATHER died after falling asleep at the wheel while driving his son home from university and crashing into a wooden fence after his car left the M4.
Alexander Merriman, 61, died in hospital a day after the collision on the eastbound carriageway of the M4 near junction 24 for Coldra on June 20 last year.
Mr Merriman was on his way back home to London with his son, Andrew, after helping him to empty his student accommodation in Cardiff.
Earlier that morning Mr Merriman and his son had driven to Cardiff from Kent, where Andrew had been playing for the Bank of England Cricket Club.
During the collision a witness saw Mr Merriman’s newly acquired blue Audi Q5 gradually cross three lanes of the carriageway into the hard shoulder. It carried on into a hedge, disappearing from view.
In a written statement read out at an inquest at Newport Coroner’s Court on Thursday, Andrew Merriman said they left his digs in Cardiff at around 4.10pm and stopped off for food at a Texaco garage in North Road before heading off.
When they reached the M4, Andrew said, he fell asleep, and woke up just after 5pm as the car entered the hard shoulder.
He said: “I shouted ‘Dad! Dad!’ but got no response. We were driving through a hedge and impacted with a wooden fence and a post came in through the windscreen.
“I sustained a deep cut above my right eyebrow but a wooden post impacted Dad straight in the forehead.
“I thought he had fallen asleep and I shouted quite loudly but got no response.
“I could see Dad was bleeding from a head wound so I tried to keep him still and used a coat to stem the blood flow.”
The collision was witnessed by Mark Lewis, who was travelling behind Mr Merriman’s car in a Nissan Primera with his daughter.
Describing what he saw, Mr Lewis said: “I saw the Audi in one smooth movement seem to swerve in a straight line move across three lanes into the hard shoulder. There was no brake lights or indicating.
“The Audi didn’t stop on the hard shoulder and carried on into the hedge. It was surreal as he totally disappeared from view and there was no crash barrier. It was almost like he came from nowhere and disappeared.”
Mr Merriman was taken to the University Hospital of Wales, in Cardiff, but despite the best efforts of staff he died at 5am on June 21, when a decision was made by the family to switch off the life-support machine.
A post-mortem examination confirmed that Mr Merriman died as a result of a severe head injury.
In conclusion, Gwent coroner Wendy James said on the balance of probabilities Mr Merriman had fallen asleep at the wheel, which had led to the car leaving the carriageway.
It was recorded that Mr Merriman’s death was due to a road traffic collision.