Around November - cannot quite find the original thread .. but I think I scanned it.
But I reported the case of a young lad called Carl who lost it in Eccles. My sisters mailed the story to me from their local rag at the time.
He was 25 and hit a tree. I recall the orginal article. Full of nice things about a young man who died.
Only .. I now have the inquest report
Carl was drunk. Over 4 times the limit. Had consumed a bottle of vodka. and taken some drugs. He was also short sighted and was not wearing his specs when he drove that car that night.
His life was "chaotic" .. happy go lucky but he "got in with the wrong crowd when he left school" - and got hooked on drugs and spent most of his short young life in and out of prison as a result.
He had never actually taken a driving test . The car had been spotted by CCTV "speeding" in the early hours of the morning.
It is believed he became confused by the tram lines .. hit the kerb and then the tree,
The coroner recorded an "accidental" saying there are lessons which have to be learned from this young man's death.
I also posted up another report which occurred on Regent Road .., just further up the A57 on that same night. A man died crossing the road.
The driver would not attend the inquest as "he was frightened at having to face the family" The coroner remarked he understood but was disappointed at his absence.
The deceased suffered fatal chest injuries and died in Hope's A&E. He walked with a limp .. he had a bad motorbike accident as a youngster.
The car hit the deceased at
39 mph on a 40 mph road per the accident investigation team. The deceased was hit "low down". The driver said the chap seemed to collapse and double up before just falling into his path... and he tried to rescuscitate at the scene.
The coroner recorded a purely accidental death in this case