AN ELDERLY couple died when they pulled out of a layby in their car straight into the path of a lorry driven by a man from Chorley.

The Saab 900 belonging to William Young and wife Phyllis, of Glebe Close, Frampton-on-Severn, near Gloucester, was shunted across the A48 and into a field by the force of the impact, an inquest heard.

Mr Young died of a crush injury to his chest at the scene, while Phyllis died later in Gloucestershire Royal Hospital on March 14 of similar injuries, death being induced by pneumonia.

An inquest into their deaths in Gloucester heard how Anthony Hesketh, of Wymondsley, Chorley, was driving an 18-tonne Volvo FN 12 lorry from employers Alan Munrow Transport, from Skelmersdale to Wales on January 25. He had taken his driving breaks as required by law and thought he was driving the white cab and trailer filled with Cadbury's confectionery at the speed limit of 40mph before the crash.

Mr Hesketh said: "I saw the Saab at a junction. It moved forward a foot and stopped. I carried on driving. Then it moved forward another foot and stopped.

"I moved out towards the centre of the carriageway because there was nothing coming the other way."

Accident investigator PC Nigel Edwards said the Saab must have jolted forwards again as the lorry approached the junction of the lay-by.

The Saab finally came to rest in a field on the opposite side of the road and the lorry and trailer blocked the rest of the carriageway.

Tachograph readings from the cab showed Mr Hesketh was travelling between 50 and 55mph before he braked rapidly and hit the Saab at an impact speed of 28mph.

Assistant coroner, Alan Crickmore recorded accidental death verdicts on both people.