The family of a Helston man and former bus driver who died in hospital a month after his car hit a lorry have paid tribute to "loving husband, father, and grandfather."

Clarence Michael Langman, 80, suffered severe injuries on January 9 when his silver Ford B-Max drifted over the centre line of the B3287 at Buller Hill near Four Lanes and collided with an oncoming truck belonging to R and R Transport.

He was taken to the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro, where he died of bronchopneumonia on February 21.

An inquest at Truro City Hall heard from a driver Darius Navai, who was behind Mr Langman as he drove from Redruth to Four Lanes on a dark and wet winter evening at around 5.30pm, when he saw Mr Langman's car hit the lorry.

He said: "I wasn't close enough to say for sure, but it appeared that the road bends around to the left and it appeared that the silver car didn't bear round enough to the left and collided with the front corner of the lorry."

When asked where the car was on the road, he said: "I would say more towards the middle or the lorry's side of the road. The lorry wasn't on the wrong side of the road."

The inquest also heard a statement from John Phillip, the driver of the lorry, who was returning to his depot in Redruth when the collision occurred.

He said: "I felt something hit me and it wrenched my steering wheel to the right, causing my lorry to swerve to the other side of the road." He added that he didn't see the car before it hit him.

Mr Phillip said he was told by Robert Burgoyne, who was driving the car in front of him, that he had also been hit just before the accident, however Mr Burgoyne told the inquest that he had not said anything of the sort.

Mr Burgoyne told the inquest: "I was slowing down, looking for [a turning on the left] when my wing mirror went bang. I originally thought someone had thrown a stone.

"I looked out, saw the lorry across the road, and asked him what happened.

"He said the car that hit me went under him - I didn't even see a car hit me.

"I went to the car with the old couple in it to check on them, and his door was jammed. I went round to the lady on the other side, she was shook up, I got a blanket off the back seat and passed it to them."

George Owens, a solicitor for Mr Langman's family, questioned several aspects of the witnesses' accounts of events.

He asked Mr Navai if he could be sure he saw the car stray over the centre line, as he appeared to have identified Mr Burgoyne as driving a black VW Transporter, even though he was in fact in a silver Peugeot.

He also questioned the fact that neither Mr Phillip nor Mr Burgoyne claimed to have seen Mr Langman's car before or during the crash, with both claiming he had been told about it by the other man.

A forensic investigator based at Bodmin, PC Frost, gave testimony based on photographs taken at the scene at the time of the crash, combined with his own observations of marks left on the road, and said "the Ford had crossed 0.6metres into the opposite lane.

Giving his verdict, assistant coroner Barrie van den Berg ruled that "Clarence Michael Langman died from a road traffic accident."

He said: "Without that he wouldn't have been lying on his back and developed pneumonia."

Mr Langman's daughters, Claudette Vian and Lynn Sumbler were at the hearing along with his granddaughter Emma Langman, although his widow Joyce was unable to attend.

The family said in a statement: "Dad was a loving husband, father and grandfather. A longstanding resident of Helston [who] had driven for many years, part of which was as a bus driver for Western National, and worked for British Rail and Redruth Railway Station.

"He will be sincerely missed by all his family and friends."