'Swerving' Cornwall dad way over drink drive limit sent car 'flying' and died

A dad who was three-and-a-half times over the drink drive limit died after losing control of his vehicle and crashing, an inquest has heard. Adrian Robert Flint, 33, died in a head-on collision with a Mercedes, on April 5 along the Castle-An-Dinas road near St Columb Major.

An inquest held at Cornwall Coroner's Court in Truro today (Tuesday, December 10) heard how Adrian had been driving a silver Toyota Corolla courtesy car at the time of the crash, as his own vehicle was being repaired in a garage. At around 3.57pm on the day of the incident, witness Aaron Humphries saw the driver of a silver car attempting to pull out of Castle Holiday Park and join the flow of traffic on the road.

He said at one point he saw the driver attempt to pull out into a gap before braking hard and reversing back from the junction. After driving past the junction and around a bend, Mr Humphries saw the same silver car in his righthand mirror as it was "continuously swerving into the other lane, clearly attempting to overtake".

It was heard that the silver car then went on to overtake six or seven vehicles before swerving back into the correct side of the road to avoid an oncoming car which it "narrowly missed". However, as it did this it hit the grass bank on the offside, causing it to "fly into the air" and bound into oncoming traffic where it collided with the black Mercedes GLC.

At least two other witnesses also described how they had seen the silver car overtake a "line of vehicles" before it hit the grass bank and collided with the Mercedes on the opposite side of the road. When police attended the scene, the driver of the silver car, who was identified as Adrian, was pronounced deceased and it was noted there was a “strong smell of alcoholic liquor” coming from inside his vehicle.

A roadside drugs and alcohol test was conducted on the driver of the black Mercedes and it concluded there was no suspicion of impairment on his part. The driver and three of his passengers, which included two children, were taken to hospital to be treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

A post-mortem examination concluded that Adrian died of multiple injuries as a result of the crash. A toxicology report also found that his blood alcohol level was three-and-a-half times greater than the UK legal drink driving limit.

The report said that the level of ethanol detected within Adrian’s body was 284 milligrams per 100 millilitres of blood, which was likely to result in "significant cognitive and motor impairment". No drugs were detected within his blood.

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A vehicle examination which took place following the collision found that there were no defects to the black Mercedes which could have caused or contributed to the collision. However, it found that while Adrian’s Toyota Corolla had passed its MoT, there was an issue with the offside rear tyre as it had "completely deflated" by the time of inspection.

It was also found that the offside rear brake pipe was "excessively corroded" and leaking fluid. The examination report said this would have caused it to fail at some point but the point of which is not known.

The inquest also heard a statement read out on behalf of Adrian’s fiance, Joanne Bate, who described him as a “character” who wore bright clothing and had dyed his hair green. She also said Adrian would “light up the room” and was a kind and thoughtful person who would do a lot for others.

Adrian’s mother, Mandy Flint, described how he was born in Oxford but later moved to Padstow, where he worked on fishing boats before becoming a builder in 2020. She said Adrian had three children and was a “loving chap” who “loved life”.

Mandy added that he was “hyperactive”, “comical” and “loved to push people’s buttons”. She said: “We are all traumatized by his passing and we had a great deal of trouble accepting he’s no longer with us.”

In concluding the inquest, assistant coroner for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly Emma Hillson said the collision was likely due to multiple factors, including Adrian losing control of his car while under the influence of alcohol, and the defects in his vehicle which possibly contributed to the collision. A conclusion of a road traffic collision was recorded.

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