A 'LOVING and caring' dad-of-four was killed when he struck a car head-on while trying to overtake a lorry, an inquest heard.

Qaser Abbas was travelling along the A6068 Shuttleworth Hall Link Road towards Padiham when he moved into the oncoming lane to pass a lorry and car.

The inquest heard the 37-year-old, of Halifax Road, Brierfield, had driven his black Volkswagen Polo half way past the lorry when he struck a BMW, travelling in the opposite direction.

Mr Abbas had started a new job just three days prior to the crash on December 1 and was driving to work at around 7.30am when the crash happened.

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Assistant coroner Mark Williams was told Mr Abbas' car also struck a Ford Fiesta, which was travelling behind the BMW before hitting the lorry.

The driving conditions were dark and it had been raining slightly on the morning of the crash, the hearing at Burnley Coroner's Court was told.

Eyewitness Jonathan Fortune, who was driving behind the lorry, said he saw Mr Abbas pass him at low speed in his right-hand mirror.

He said: "I thought what was this driver doing trying to overtake both me and the lorry?

"The view, I thought, was not clear.

"I saw he started to indicate and pull back in and I thought he had got away with it, but then I heard an almighty collision.

"It will live with me for the rest of my life."

A post mortem examination, carried out by pathologist Dr Deepa Jacob, found Mr Abbas suffered a spinal cord compression and bleeding of the liver.

Within the report, Dr Jacob said the cause of death was 'consistent' with a road traffic collision.

Parcel delivery driver Paul Archer, who was driving the lorry, said when he saw Mr Abbas' car come up on his near side he knew 'he wasn't going to make it'.

He said: "After the crash, the engine was in the middle of the road and the car was in the right lane.

"I went to the car with the victim inside.

"He did not have a seat belt on when I saw him."

PC John Birch, who investigated the collision, said he had looked at the CCTV footage taken from the lorry's built in cameras and the Ford Fiesta driver's dashcam.

He told the hearing Mr Abbas was not wearing his seat belt.

Dr Simon Elliot, from Alere Forensics, said tests were taken on Mr Abbas' blood, which found traces of cannabinoids, an ingredient of cannabis.

He added there was traces of 1P LSD, a chemical substitute of LSD, found in one of the blood test samples, but not in the second test, carried out a few weeks later.

Dr Elliot said he was uncertain Mr Abbas had consumed 1P LSD because of the results.

He said: "We can be sure cannabis was used at some point prior to death but not when or what the actual dose was."

Dr Elliot said the impact on his concentration levels was unclear.

Mr Williams said: "The conclusion is his death was the result of a road traffic collision.

"The blood tests showed there was cannabis in his system.

"We don't know if this had an affect on his driving or the decision making.

"I want to offer my sincere condolences to the family who are the ones who will have to bare this awful tragedy."

After the inquest, Qamar Zaman, Mr Abbas' son-in-law, said: "He will be missed by everyone, by his family, friends and kids.

"He was a loving and caring dad, he was a hard worker.

"His children will be the ones who will suffer the most.

"We are happy that we now have answers.

"We believe it was human error and nothing else."