'Tired' Shropshire van driver died in crash just hours after taking nap

Paul Baker, 55, also known as Paul Racca, from Much Wenlock, told a colleague he had fallen asleep behind the wheel of his Transit flatbed van just a few hours before the horror crash.

He had pulled over and taken a two-hour sleep before resuming his journey before he was seen swerving over the central white line and then quickly correcting the direction back into the correct lane.

On the third occasion he crashed into a Argos lorry, suffered multiple injuries and died.

The inquest in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, was told that Mr Baker was called by a colleague an hour before the crash on October 26 last year.

Senior Coroner Crispin Butler, heard from Karen Sturgess, who said: “He had pulled over earlier because he felt tired.

“He told me he had fallen asleep behind the wheel briefly earlier in the day. He then said he pulled over for a nap and slept for about two hours.”

Other drivers who gave witness statements to police said Mr Baker’s van had been seen swerving towards oncoming traffic on the stretch of the A421 near Buckingham.

Christopher Berry told the court: “I noticed the van in front of me suddenly moved across the central white line. It returned to the correct side of the road quite quickly.

“Then the same thing happened again. The third time this happened the van went completely across the white line. All of this steering seemed deliberate. He wasn’t swerving to avoid anything."

Lorry driver Steven Smith told the court: “The Transit just kept coming with no diversion. It appeared to me that the driver of the van was unconscious.

“I had done well to avoid it being a complete head-on collision. I pulled up as far as I could onto the grass verge on the side of the road when I saw the van coming, but I couldn’t avoid the crash.

“The van wasn’t overtaking anyone. I think he was already dead.”

Forensic investigation officer Kevin Spiller, who attended the scene, said: “There was no fault with either vehicle involved and the conditions on the day were good, with visibility over 300 metres.

“The tachograph in the heavy goods vehicle indicates the incident happened at 12:40 pm on October 26 2017. It also states at the time of collision the heavy goods vehicle had applied emergency braking and was travelling at 37mph.

“There was no data available from the van but it was travelling with the flow of traffic, so I can say it was travelling approximately 50mph.

“There was no evidence of braking from the van and it appears unlikely that Mr Baker was asleep at the time of the crash.

“It appears the driver made and attempt to straighten up heading into the oncoming traffic. However I have no explanation as to why.

“Mr Baker navigated a roundabout a few hundred metres previous to the scene of the accident which again indicates he was not asleep at the time.”

Mr Baker’s father, David Baker, said after the inquest: “This outcome has just settled our minds.”

Mr Baker’s son, Wesley, said: “It’s good knowing what happened to dad.”

Mr Baker was ruled to have died die to a road traffic collision.

Mr Butler, in conclusion, said: “Mr Baker died at the scene due to injuries from the crash. The evidence does not show it was intentional.”