Over-the-limit driver died in crash

An unlicensed driver who stole his father's car when he was more than double the drink-drive limit died when he veered into a Bentley taking teenagers home from their school prom.

Harry Wragg, aged 20, died at the scene of the crash in Walsall Wood Road, Aldridge, on July 4, an inquest heard. Pc David Ball from West Midlands Police told coroner Robin Balmain that Mr Wragg was driving his father's VW Golf.

He then veered into the path of a chauffeur-driven silver Bentley at about 1.30am. The Bentley was taking Aldridge Science College pupils home from their school prom at Calderfields Golf Club.

The 33-year-old driver was unhurt while two pupils travelling in the car suffered bruises in the crash, near the junction with Noddy Park Road.

The road was closed for more than five hours for police to investigate how the accident happened. Pc Ball told the inquest: "The reason the Golf veered across the road is unidentified.

"The driver had two and a half times the legal limit of alcohol in his body, it is conceivable the deceased lost consciousness at the wheel but there is no evidence to support this.

"There is nothing to say the driver of the Bentley contributed to the collision in any way."

He added that the driver of the Bentley was breathalysed and the result was negative for alcohol.

Mr Balmain said the medical cause of death was a massive haemothorax – an internal chest injury – and the contributable cause was a fractured skull.

He said: "This is very sad, parents should not have to go through this. Harry was not qualified to drive and didn't have his father's consent to drive the car.

"Mr Wragg took the car when he had been drinking and simply lost control on a straight stretch of road." He recorded a verdict of death as a result of a road traffic collision.