A MAN who died in a road crash while more than twice the legal limit for alcohol died as a result of an accident, an inquest ruled.

Allan Player, 34, from Thundersley, was driving a black Seat Ibiza when he struck a white Mercedes Sprinter van at about 3am.

Mr Player, was treated by paramedics but died at the scene.

Essex Senior Coroner Caroline Beasley-Murray, presiding at Essex Coroners’ Court yesterday heard Mr Player’s car crossed onto the opposite side of the road before crashing with the van.

A post mortem examination at Southend Hospital gave the cause of death as multiple injuries.

PC Alan Barlow, from the Essex Police Forensic Collision Unit gave evidence after attending the scene.

He said: “Mr Player had 177 milligrams of alcohol per 100ml of blood in his system, while the legal limit is 80, this is twice the legal limit.

“The evidence showed the Mercedes driver was wearing a seat belt however Mr Player was not wearing a seat belt.”

Families members, including Mr Player’s partner Denise, were present at the inquest and said they believed he was on the way back from a shop when the collision occurred.

PC Barlow said: “I went to the scene at about 4.50am and examined the road surface, the conditions and the two vehicles that were involved in the crash.

“Evidence showed Mr Player was driving at about 60mph in a 30mph area and that he lost control of the car before it crashed with the van.

“On the morning of the incident, it was a cold morning and the road surface was wet.”

The inquest heard that as the car lost control it rotated clockwise and was in a sidewise position when it crashed with the Mercedes van in Rayleigh Road, Benfleet, on Sunday, December 3 last year.

Mrs Beasley-Murray expressed her condolences to his family and all those who loved him.