The death of a Penryn woman in a car accident last year could have been avoided if she and her husband had not accepted the offer of a lift, an inquest in Truro has heard.

Bridget Toy was killed along with Jeremy Tetley, a former Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall, when the silver BMW he was driving was hit by Nathan Shields' Fiat Ducato van at the Juntion of the B3292 and Brown's hill in Penryn on July 3, 2013.

Mrs Toy's husband, Nigel, a front seat passenger who survived the crash, told assistant coroner Barrie van den Berg that while waiting for the lift from Mr Tetley, she had told him "we could have walked or taken the bus."

The hearing was also told, by Anthony Zee of Camborne's serious collision unit, that had Mr Tetley survived the crash, he would be "likely to be prosecuted", before being told that such information was not relevant to the matter at hand.

The assistant coroner said of Mr Shields, from Penzance: "While it is never pleasant to be in a collision, the evidence is that it is not his fault."

A verdict of death by road traffic collision was recorded for both Mrs Toy and Mr Tetley.

Falmouth Packet:

Bridget Toy, who was a passenger in Mr Tetley's car