A MOTORIST who died when his car collided head-on with a taxi was well over the drink drive limit, an inquest heard.

Shane Maughan, 20, died instantly when the silver Ford Mondeo he was driving hit the taxi head-on in Manchester Road, Burnley at around 1.40am on November 7 last year.

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East Lancashire coroner Richard Taylor said the Mondeo was travelling down the hill from the Rossendale Road junction and the taxi was going up the hill.

Two women and a second man, all from Burnley, suffered serious injuries in the incident.

The hearing at Burnley Magistrates Court was told Mr Maughan had a blood alcohol level of 133mg with the legal driving limit 80mg.

Pathologist Richard Prescott told the inquest the cause of death was cervical spinal cord injury due to a road traffic accident.

PC John Cuthbertson, a dog handler, told the inquest that he realised that the Mondeo was a wanted vehicle and he noticed it ‘appeared to be going at an excessive speed’. PC Cutherbertson added that as he drove down Manchester Road he saw steam or smoke in the distance.

When he arrived at the scene the Mondeo was ‘nose to nose’ with a black taxi cab and straddling the central reservation. Both cars had received substantial damage.

Residents came out of their houses to try and help, the inquest heard.

Three ambulances and other police officers were called to the scene.

PC Jason Colclough, from the collision investigation unit, told the inquest that he arrived at the scene at 1.44am.

The Ford Mondeo was half on the central reservation and half into the wrong side of the road, he said. He told the coroner the taxi was on the correct side of the road but at a 90 degree angle.

Subsequent examination of the Mondeo showed Mr Maughan, of St Helens, was not wearing his seatbelt at the time of the collision and the vehicle’s headlights were likely to have been switched off.

The officer said the Mondeo was estimated to have been travelling at between 42 and 45mph before braking and would have been travelling at 30mph at the time of impact.

Speaking to Mr Maughan’s family Mr Taylor said: “The loss of a son is a tragic event and you have my full sympathy and condolences. He was a very young man with maybe insufficient experience of life but made a decision to drive that vehicle when he had had a drink.”

After switching off his headlights to avoid being seen by police, Mr Maughan overtook a stationary car at the traffic lights, he added.

“In overtaking that vehicle at speed he completely missed the right carriageway. I don’t think necessarily intentionally to go down the wrong carriageway but at some stage he turns his lights off and didn’t want to be seen. That of course was the decision that led him into the path of the taxi coming in the other direction." He returned a conclusion of death as a result of a road traffic collision.