THE inquest has been held into the death of a driver who was killed in a crash on the M5 two years ago.

Terence Sullivan, aged 60, from Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales, was travelling on the northbound carriageway of the motorway near Droitwich, when a lorry, being driven in the opposite direction, smash-ed into the central reservation and then into his vehicle.

No alcohol was found in Mr Sullivan's blood and a post mortem discovered he had died from shock and haemorrhaging due to multiple injuries, the inquest at Stourport-on-Severn was told.

Worcestershire coroner Victor Round said a detailed police investigation was carried out on the crash which happened on Tuesday, August 16, 2005. The lorry driver, Barry King, of Doncaster, South Yorkshire, was subsequently arrested and charged with causing death by dangerous driving and on suspicion of possessing a controlled drug.

He had also been driving the van while using a second driver's licence while disqualified for his first and had to be airlifted to Selly Oak Hospital, Birmingham, suffering from severe abdominal pain.

Witnesses said they saw the lorry drift from the first lane into the third, without signalling, before going through the central reservation barriers. Mr Round recorded a narrative verdict. He said: "Mr Sullivan died suddenly, struck in frontal collision by a lorry which had crossed the central reservation into his path out of control without established cause."

A Crown Court case is still pending and a warrant has been issued for the arrest of Mr King.