Driver may have fallen asleep at wheel.

Byline: CARL BUTLER

A HUSBAND may have fallen asleep causing a car crash which killed his wife.

Thomas Chatterton, 74, told people who pulled him and his wife Mavis, 74, from the wreckage: "I think I fell asleep" a Mold inquest heard yesterday.

Mr and Mrs Chatterton, from Newquay, Cornwall, were in a hired Corsa, returning from a visit to relatives in Llangollen to their holiday hotel in Llandudno, on August 6 when their car veered across the straight A5 near Pentrefoelas, crashed into a wall before flipping over.

Mr Chatteron, a retired test car driver for Ford, suffered minor injuries but his wife Mavis, initially treated at hospital and released to her son's home in Liverpool, died at

Whiston hospital on August 12 from respiratory failure due to fractured ribs.

Several witnesses heard Mr Chatterton say: "I think I must have fallen asleep." Interviewed later by police Mr Chatterton said he could not remember saying he might have fallen asleep but he said he did feel unwell before the crash and was looking for somewhere to stop and might have "blacked out".

A police investigation found no faults with the car or road, there were no other vehicles involved and no emergency braking.

Witnesses had seen Mr Chatterton's car veer to the left then suddenly pull to the right, climbed an embankment and hit a wall before flipping over. The investigation concluded the accident was due to Mr Chatterton's actions..

Acting coroner John Gittins, recording a verdict of accidental death, said: "Unfortunately a contributory factor in this is Mr Chatterton himself, the driver and widower, making the circumstances all the more tragic because of that." He said it was fortunate there was so little traffic about at the time or there could have been an even more serious accident..