A drunk man crashed a car before ‘trying to fight an oncoming lorry’, an inquest held at Wiltshire and Swindon Coroner’s Court heard today (Tuesday).
38-year-old Thomas Gower was driving his grandfather’s silver Toyota Yaris when it left the A350, demolished a lamppost and came to rest into a hedgerow at around 5am on 3 March last year.
Three motorists stopped at the scene and attempted to engage with Thomas – who miraculously escaped injury. He was described as appearing “highly emotional”, “distressed” and “distracted”.
One of the assisting drivers, Adrian Richards, who was travelling from his home in Lacock towards the M4, said that Thomas was reportedly shouting: “What am I going to do? They want me dead”.
Carl Elliot, another one of the three motorists who stopped to help, said he could smell alcohol on Thomas’ breath as he tried to calm him down at the roadside. 999 was called.
Throughout, Thomas held onto his mobile phone and repeatedly said he wanted to contact his father. When asked who he thought wanted to kill him, he replied: “Everyone”.
He repeatedly tried to run towards the carriageway, but both Mr Richards and Mr Elliot restrained him – as they became increasingly concerned for his welfare.
Thomas was held down on the bonnet of a car but managed to break free from their grip. The pair linked arms to try and stop him from moving towards the A-road, but he pushed through and sprinted across it.
He proceeded to walk back into the southbound carriageway. It was there that Thomas hunched over and put his fists up to his face – as if he wanted to fight an oncoming articulated vehicle.
On noticing a figure in the road, the Broughton lorry driver started braking and moving towards the other side of the road – but weighing 18 tonnes, he was unable to stop it in time.
Thomas was struck by the lorry as the blue lights of police vehicles could be seen in the distance – sustaining significant head injuries. A paramedic declared him dead on arrival at 5.22am.
The lorry driver said: “I did my best to avoid him, but I had nowhere else to go”, adding that he was left “shocked and bewildered” by the tragic incident.
PC Michelle Jones, a forensic collision investigator, said that the lorry was travelling at 53mph before the brakes were applied and couldn’t have stopped in time to avoid the collision.
“There was insufficient time or space for the HGV to have been brought to rest [sooner]”, she said.
PC Jones said that there were approximately 15 minutes between the time of the 999 call and the police arriving at the scene – and by that time, Thomas had been fatally wounded.
She told the inquest that through a mix of drink, drugs and mental health, Thomas “voluntarily entered the A350 southbound” to “place himself directly in the path of that HGV”.
Toxicology results confirmed that he was 1.6 times the drink-drive limit and had been using cocaine recreationally. Reports from his GP confirmed that Thomas was diagnosed with anxiety and depression, and in 2014, was drug dependent.
Area coroner Ian Singleton said: “I’m not satisfied that Mr Gower intended to take his own life, or fully understood consequences of entering the carriageway as he did.” As such, he recorded his death as road traffic collision.
Mr Singleton passed his condolences to Thomas’ family – his father, stepmother and two sisters – and thanked them for attending the inquest.
