A MAN who died in a crash on the A120 was more than twice over the legal alcohol limit, an inquest heard.

Soldier Brendan Williams, 21, was travelling along the Coggeshall bypass towards Braintree in his privately owned Vauxhall Astra at about 5.30am on December 3 when he was killed.

An inquest on Monday heard how Brendan, who served with the 7th Parachute Regiment Horse Artillery, was driving on the wrong side of the road with a blood alcohol level of 162mg per 100ml - the legal limit is 80mg. 

Forensic collision investigator Steve Perrett said: “The road surface was in a good state of repair. The weather conditions were cold and cloudy but it was dry. Mr Williams drove the Astra on to the wrong side of the road. This was not an easy mistake to make, it was well-lit by streetlights. He continues along the carriageway making no effort to slow down or stop.

“At the time of the impact he was travelling at 62mph and both vehicles were on a converging path. He had his seatbelt on but collisions of this magnitude are rarely survivable.”

Brendan was travelling with dipped headlights towards a DAF lorry which was using full beam.

The driver of the lorry was within the national speed limit, travelling at 43mph and had adhered to all legal rest requirements.

Mr Perrett said: “This would be a most unexpected situation, it would not be unreasonable to assume the lights were from another lane on the road. It seems most likely that his earlier consumption of alcohol was a major factor, he was travelling just over twice the prescribed limit.

“A tachograph showed the lorry was braking heavily to 29mph for 1.5 seconds. After this the vehicle was subject to impact and this reads at 11mph over half a second.”