CAR LOVER DIED AFTER CRASHING INTO CANAL
Inquest told dad lost control of Porsche while overtaking
CAR enthusiast Anthony Hawks died after he lost control of a Porsche and careered off a canal bridge.
The 50-year-old gardener, known as Tony, was travelling to his brother’s house when the convertible left the A54 Buxton Road in Congleton.
The car crashed through a stone wall, struck a tree, and went down an embankment, ending up partially submerged in the canal. A large stone from the wall fell onto the vehicle, trapping Mr Hawks.
An inquest at Macclesfield Town Hall heard he had called in on a friend in Macclesfield after finishing work at Four Oaks Nurseries on June 22.
He had borrowed his brother’s Porsche and was heading for Scholar Green, where he grew up, when the accident happened.
Witness Daniel Lendon was travelling the same way when he saw Mr Hawks behind him.
He told the inquest: “He overtook me and accelerated off. I was going around a corner and I noticed his rear end going out to the left. I thought he was going to lose control.
“At that point the vehicle was horizontal. Then it went through the bridge on the right-hand side.”
Mr Lendon and another passing motorist, Martin Lea, pulled up and went to see if they could help Mr Hawks.
Mr Lea said: “The car was teetering on the edge of the canal. You could see the coping stone on the top of the car.
“It was obvious he was either dead or seriously injured. Because of the position of the car there was very little we could do without specialist help.”
Emergency services attended and Mr Hawks, of Maisterson Court, Nantwich, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Toxicology tests found that he had cannabis in his system, but experts said it was impossible to say whether this would have impaired his ability to drive.
The cause of his death was given as ‘severe head injury’. The inquest heard it was not known whether this was caused in the crash or by the impact of the stone.
Police collision investigator PC Peter Brachaniec said that Mr Hawks losing control of the car was probably the result of ‘excessive acceleration and/or over-steering’.
PC Brachaniec said the Porsche was travelling at between 43mph and 54mph when Mr Hawks lost control. He added that one of the vehicle’s tyres was found to be overinflated by 52 per cent, which may have contributed to the incident.
Mr Hawks’s son, James Jones, told the inquest: “Since I was born he had a large amount of cars. He had always watched car programmes and he loved classic cars and sports cars.
“I always felt safe in a car with him – safer than with anyone else. He would borrow my uncle’s Porsche. He loved having the roof down. He was familiar with the car.”
In a statement, Mr Hawks’s long-term partner Julie Jones, who was unable to attend the inquest due to illness, said he had also loved music, going on holiday and playing tennis, snooker and pool.
She said: “I used to refer to Tony as ‘my rock’. We never argued.
“He will be deeply missed by me, the children and the grandchildren. He has given me 30 years of happiness and will be missed by all of us.”
Cheshire Coroner Claire Welch recorded that Mr Hawks died as a result of a road traffic collision.