Motorist died after swerving across lane to reach exit on A45 in Northampton

Vincent Corrodus lived in Hertfordshire with his partner, but due to his job being in Northampton during the week he stayed with family in Towcester.

Mr Corrodus was driving to work in Northampton on the morning of Wednesday June 12 when his silver Vauxhall Vectra crashed off the A45.

His partner Kerrie Lyle told the hearing that the previous night they had been away for a party in Lincolnshire, and Mr Corrodus had checked on his phone the time it would take to get to work for 10am and it said it would be a journey of one-and-a-half-hours. But it turned out due to a poor phone signal he had checked the distance to a branch of the same firm in a different town.

Leaving the hotel at 8.15am the correct journey time of two hours was displayed.

At around 10am a witness driving along the A45 from the west towards the Billing Interchange told the inquest she saw a car move sharply from the right-hand lane, across the other lane of the dual carriageway, then across the chevron markings separating the slip-lane from the main road.

She remembered driving at around 60 to 65mph and was not aware of any cars behind her. Then suddenly the Vectra, being driven by Mr Corrodus, was overtaking her and then cutting across the road and chevrons to reach the slip road.

Crash investigator PC Jon Hoddle told the inquest the road was wet at the time, but there was no standing water. However PC Hoddle said Mr Corrodus’s rear offside tyre was worn down to the wires.

He concluded that Mr Corrodus left it too late for the manoeuvre to cross the lanes, and he crossed from lane two to the slip road at a speed that “was not appropriate”.

He said: “The wet road surface, coupled with the tyre’s reduced grip caused the vehicle to start spinning sideways across the road.”

Mr Corrodus’s vehicle left the road, travelled over the verge and crashed into the hedge where it hit a tree.

Mr Corrodus received severe internal injuries and died at the scene.

A post-mortem found Mr Corrodus was most likely wearing a seatbelt, and had neither alcohol nor drugs in his system.

Coroner Anne Pember recorded a verdict of accidental death in a road traffic collision.