DRIVER Stuart Adams was three times over the legal drink-drive limit and may have nodded off when his car smashed into a tree on his way home after a night out.

Mr Adams, 32, was driving home to Rushmead Lane, Lower South Wraxall, on April 30, after taking a 17-year-old woman friend home to Bradford on Avon, when the accident happened on the B3109, near Bradford Leigh.

A post-mortem examination revealed Mr Adams died instantly after suffering serious head and chest injuries.

Tests showed he had a blood alcohol reading of 255. The legal limit is 80.

Earlier in the evening, Mr Adams had been drinking in The Castle Pub in Bradford, and the Kings Arms in Monkton Farleigh.

At an inquest in Chippenham on Wednesday, Wiltshire coroner David Masters recorded a verdict of accidental death and said the cause of the crash could be attributed to alcohol and tiredness.

He said: "We know he was a very hard working young man who was totally committed to his job.

"The suggestion is, with the line markings at the scene, he might momentarily have gone to sleep. That, coupled with the level of alcohol, would have had an effect on his driving."

Mr Adams's Ford Escort estate car was discovered upside down with his body strapped inside. The violent impact had completely destroyed the front of the vehicle.

PC David Townsend said marks left on the grass verge showed straight tyre tracks, 50 metres long, leading to the tree.