AN INQUEST has heard how an experienced trucker from Droitwich was killed in a tragic accident on the M5.

Roy Burton, 65, of Dowles Croft, was killed when his vehicle collided with a cattle truck, letting 20 cows loose on the northbound carriageway between junctions six and five on Tuesday, November 12, 2002.

Worcestershire coroner Victor Round said at the inquest in Stourport-on-Severn that, on the day of the accident, Mr Burton was driving an empty Renault 7.5-ton vehicle.

He stopped on the hard shoulder before pulling on to the motorway but failed to see a blue Scania truck behind him.

This forced the truck to move to the middle but a cattle truck in the same lane forced the driver to return to the lane Mr Barton was in.

When the Scania truck collided with Mr Barton's vehicle, he then collided with the cattle truck causing it to jack-knife and overturn.

Mr Barton suffered a ruptured aorta - the artery which leaves the heart - in the collision.

He died the same day in Worcestershire Royal Hospital.

The coroner recorded a verdict of accidental death.