THE driver of a car which ploughed head-on into a lorry as he sped the wrong way down the A1 had taken a lethal cocktail of drink and painkillers, an inquest heard yesterday.

Andrew Bentley seemed fine when last seen by his wife in the early hours of the day he died.

However, the 45-year-old left the home they shared in Darlington in his Rover car, which later careered into a tipper truck just north of Scotch Corner in North Yorkshire.

A bottle of rum and packs of paracetamol were found in the wreckage of his car, and a post mortem examination confirmed he had taken enough tablets to kill himself while he was also over the drink-drive limit.

However, Coroner Jeremy Cave recorded an open verdict in Richmond yesterday, pointing out there was no proof Mr Bentley intended to take his own life.

The hearing was told motorists watched in horror as he first drove the wrong way around the roundabout over the A1 before joining the southbound carriageway and heading north.

Others had to swerve to avoid him before he collided with the lorry, driven by Ian Atkin of Acomb, near York.

Mr Atkin told the hearing he was still receiving treatment for post traumatic stress disorder after seeing a friend flung through the windscreen of his cab. "I couldn't get out my side so I had to climb through the passenger door," he said.

His passenger recovered from injuries he suffered in the crash in August last year.

Mr Bentley, who was crushed at the wheel, died from what were described in court yesterday as "severe multiple injuries".

Evidence given by his wife indicated he was unhappy working as a welder in Reading, commuting home once a fortnight, and was under treatment by a doctor for high blood pressure.

However, Mr Cave said: "With that amount of drink - and a lethal overdose of paracetamol - would he have known what he was doing?

"He left no note and it would too simplistic to describe what happened as an accident, which is why I have decided to record an open verdict."