A TEENAGE motorist took drugs before being involved in a horrific head-on collision which killed himself and another driver and injured five passengers, an inquest heard.

Warrington Coroner's Court was told last Friday how Steven Roberts, aged 18, of Ashdown Grove, Halewood, inhaled isobutyl nitrite, known commonly as rush, and smoked cannabis less than an hour before the crash on the A558 Daresbury Expressway in Sandymoor, Runcorn, on June 26 last year.

Taxi driver Brian Crummey, aged 41, of Rosemary Avenue, Beechwood, Runcorn, was killed when the teenager's Peugeot 306 sped into oncoming traffic and hit his Citreon Xsara Picasso at about 9.30pm while attempting to overtake a car. Mr Roberts died a week later at Warrington Hospital.

Mr Robert's friend Melanie Wright, who was an injured passenger in the incident, said: "He had a cannabis joint before we set off for Runcorn and I saw him sniff some rush about 20 minutes before the crash. I remember he was speeding up so I put my seatbelt on.

"You have to speed up anyway to overtake, but I got a bit worried because he started to speed up to about 70mph very close to where the crash was."

The teenager was attempting to overtake a Volkswagen Polo en route to a car cruise, in which drivers show off their modified cars.

He narrowly missed hitting a first car, which had to swerve to escape danger, before colliding with Mr Crummey's taxi. Andrew Ritchie, aged 48, who was a passenger in the taxi, was seriously injured.

DC Nigel Forrest, drugs liaison officer for Cheshire Police, said: "Cannabis impairs your motive skills and can be like alcohol in the way it affects your ability to make proper judgements.

"It can last in the body for quite a long time."

Recording a verdict of misadventure, coroner Nicholas Rheinberg said: "It appears Steven took a small sniff of isobutyl nitrite,.

"But I suppose no-one could measure its effects because it was some time before the crash and I can't say beyond reasonable doubt that it would have affected his driving."

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