A SOUTH Wiltshire father watched his young son die after crashing his car into a tanker before spinning into the central reservation of a motorway, an inquest heard.

Gary Collins was driving back from a visit to the Saints stadium with his eight-year-old son, George, when the collision happened on the busy M271 at Nursling, Southampton.

His car clipped the back of the lorry before spinning round and landing in the central reservation barrier.

The passenger side of the car, where George was sitting, took the full impact of the crash.

George was killed instantly from a fractured skull.

David Traynor, of West Wellow, who had watched the crash happen, told how he ran to help free Mr Collins, who was trapped, using a bar to force open the driver's door.

He said: "I stopped the car and I ran over. I didn't realise there was a passenger until the driver started shouting for his son."

PC Stephen Thomas, who was the first officer at the scene, told the inquest: "I saw the driver attempting to get out of the window. He was shouting 'George, where's George?'

"I then saw a boy with red hair with his face turned away from me.

"There was quite a bit of blood on his head and on the seat. I believe he died at the point of impact."

Traffic had been at a standstill queueing to get on to the M27 roundabout when the collision happened shortly before noon on July 30 this year.

When paramedics arrived, they said there was nothing they could do to help George. Mr Collins, a 48-year-old taxi driver, was taken to hospital with serious injuries.

The inquest heard how Mr Collins had overtaken a car and gone into the outside lane when he clipped the back of the HGV. Last Wednesday, at the inquest held in Winchester, Mr Collins, who lives at Alderbury, sat tearfully with his face in his hands as the tragedy was retold.

Describing the moments before the impact, a statement from Mr Collins said: "All of a sudden there was the back of the vehicle just yards away. I can't remember if I hit the brakes."

David Walker, the driver of the tanker involved, who works for BOC at Fawley, told how he was waiting behind a tipper truck with his handbrake on when he heard brakes screeching and Mr Collins' red Renault Clio hit the back of him.

"I heard a screech of brakes. The screech seemed to me to go on forever."

PC David Whiting, crash investigator, said: "In my opinion, this tragic collision was due to the driver of the Renault failing to respond correctly to the stationary vehicle."

Recording a verdict of accidental death, central Hampshire coroner Grahame Short said: "On balance, I believe his father was too close before he realised the tanker was stationary."