A MOTORIST told police he suffered a seizure prior to a multi-vehicle crash that left one man dead, and two people seriously injured, an inquest heard.

The tragic chain of events started when a Volvo, driven by Nathan Chapman, collided with a Dacia Duster on the A167, at Beaumont Hill, near Darlington, last October.

The second vehicle was pushed into the path of an oncoming Vauxhall Viva, and the Volvo went on to hit a single decker bus and a VW Golf.

The hearing in Crook was told the Viva, driven by 74-year-old Eddie Turner, from Newton Aycliffe, struck the Duster and came to rest on a verge by the side of the road, leaving him fatally injured.

Mr Turner’s 75-year-old wife and the driver of the Duster, 59, were also badly hurt in the crash and treated in hospital.

The Northern Echo:

Eddie Turner 

Mr Chapman, who had been diagnosed with epilepsy in 2014, said he had suffered two seizures.

The inquest heard his last fit was more than four years before the crash and he now took his medication ‘religiously’.

He was on his way to a welding course in North Shields at around 8.15am on October 8, when the collision occurred but he cannot remember anything beyond approaching the the A1(M).

Mr Chapman said: “I was going along with the flow of traffic.

“There was an instruction from the sat nav to take the third exit at the roundabout.

“That is the last thing I remember.”

The inquest was told Mr Chapman had surrendered his driving licence to the DVLA after his second seizure in September 2015.

Andrew Brown, from the DVLA, told the hearing Government guidelines meant Mr Chapman could be re-issued with a licence as his last seizure had been more than 12 months earlier.

Tributes paid to much-loved family man 

Witnesses told Durham Constabulary the Volvo was driving normally but appeared to accelerate and began undertaking cars prior to the incident.

Accident investigator PC Nick Downing said he was 100 per cent certain the chain of events started with the initial impact involving the Volvo.

He said: “Mr Chapman did tell us about the medical history that he had. There is nothing to suggest he was struggling in any way until this particular day.”

Assistant Coroner Crispin Oliver has adjourned the inquest until October 14 to allow Mr Chapman to read further legal documentation ahead of questioning.