THE wife of a man who drove the wrong way up a motorway slip road told an inquest he had been behaving strangely in the days leading up to his death.

Judith Uttley, of White Platts Street, Todmorden, said she had asked her husband David, 55, not to go to work on the day he drove up the westbound sliproad of the M65 at Whitebirk, Blackburn.

The inquest heard other motorists had to swerve out of the way to avoid a collision with Mr Uttley's white Aixem -- a quad vehicle that can be driven on a provisional licence.

He died instantly after the vehicle virtually disintegrated.

Mrs Uttley told the inquest that David started behaving strangely the day before the accident. He had set off to drive work in Walton Summit, Preston, without releasing the hand brake and she had thought that was strange.

When he got home that evening he was strangely forgetful and seemed distant and very quiet.

Mrs Uttley said her husband looked pale and she asked him if he was all right.

"He said he was OK but that the lads at work had said he didn't seem himself. I kept talking to him but he seemed withdrawn and didn't respond."

Mrs Uttley said her husband made his sandwiches for the following day and went to bed, but when she joined him later he was still wearing his T-shirt and sweat shirt.

"He said he thought he had taken them off," she said.

The following morning he got up at 5am but Mrs Uttley was so concerned about his behaviour that she asked her husband not to go to work.

"He was very forgetful," she said. "He hadn't fastened his belt and he tried to put a cigarette in his mouth when there was already one there."

Wlademer Mayko, of Rochdale, told the hearing he was driving along the M65 towards Blackburn when he had to slow down behind a white vehicle that was only doing about 40 mph. As they approached the Whitebirk slip road it moved into the left hand lane to leave the motorway, veered right as if it was going to re-join the main carriageway but then stayed in the exit lane.

Mr Mayko said the car was now travelling at less than 40 mph in the outside lane. He dropped back to let another car 'undertake' but was close enough at the roundabout to see the vehicle indicate before driving up the next motorway exit lane. "I was doubting what I was seeing," said Mr Mayko.

David Short, of Laburnum Road, Blackburn, was travelling down the slip road when he was confronted by the headlights of the oncoming car.

"I swerved out of the way but the other driver kept straight on," said Mr Short. "He didn't make any attempt to get out of the way, he just kept going straight on."

Stuart Mackey, of Conway Drive, Oswaldtwistle, was driving a lorry on the inside westbound lane as Mr Uttley's vehicle came up the slip road. He flashed his lights to warn the oncoming driver.

"He just kept coming and crossed into my outside lane and went past," said Mr Mackey. "I looked in my mirror hoping there was nothing behind me but there was a Ford and they hit head on."

Samuel Burger, a South African civil engineer, told the inquest that he was doing a bit over 60 mph when the other car suddenly appeared in front of him.

"I swerved but it was too late," said Mr Burger.

Recording a verdict of accidental death, deputy coroner Carolyn Singleton said Mr Uttley's behaviour had been "bizarre in the extreme."

"What caused his death is not in doubt, what led him to behave in the way he did is and will remain a mystery," she said.

The medical cause of death was given as multiple injuries.