Death-crash pals ‘nearly 4 times drink-drive limit’
TWO friends died after one of them drove at speed on the wrong side of a busy road before a head-on crash, an inquest heard.
Tom Ashley, 31, was behind the wheel of a white Renault Megane taxi which belonged to his friend and front-seat passenger John Hughes, 42, before the smash just before 7am on July 12, 2020.
A court heard that in the build-up to the incident, joiner Mr Ashley and Mr Hughes, a taxi driver – who had been at a 30th birthday party – travelled at speeds of up to 75mph on Bolton Road in Pendlebury, Salford.
That led to Mr Ashley, from Clifton, driving on the wrong side of the road and crashing into another vehicle, driven by Mark Taylor, who was left with serious injuries.
Mr Ashley and Mr Hughes, from Swinton, both sustained ‘unsurvivable’ injuries in the smash, with police believing neither were wearing a seatbelt.
Both were nearly four times the legal drink-drive limit and had taken cocaine, the court heard.
Zoe Bray, whose 30th birthday they were celebrating, gave evidence at Bolton Coroners Court. She had been dating Mr Hughes.
The party had originally been in Ms Bray’s grandmother’s garden, but Mr Hughes drove the 15 in attendance to Ms Bray’s own home at around 2am, having only had one drink. After that, people ‘let their hair down,’ with Mr Ashley and Mr Hughes both continuing to drink.
A few hours later, Mr Ashley and Mr Hughes became involved in an argument with another man at the party, Ms Bray told the court, and her mother asked everyone to leave.
Ms Bray saw Mr Ashley and Mr
Hughes leave the house and believed they had started walking home, before she went to bed.
A few hours later, she was told about a crash on Bolton Road in Pendlebury by a friend. The friend recognised Mr Hughes’ Megane.
Sgt Adrian Pye – a collision reconstruction officer at GMP – told the court CCTV footage showed the car travelling between 70 and 75mph along Bolton Road, towards Station Road. It also showed it moving into
the wrong lane to overtake a car, without moving back.
Area coroner Rachel Syed recorded a conclusion of ‘misadventure.’ She told the court: “There is no doubt that John and Tom exercised poor judgement which led to the devastating fatal consequences for these young gentlemen. This could serve as a stark warning to others of the very real dangers of drinking and taking drugs and driving at excessive speed.”