CORONER Graham Short gave a heartfelt reminder to the family of John and Judith Woodget that life is fragile after hearing fatigue was likely to have caused the car crash they died in.

The couple, of Dene Farm, Lockeridge, were on their way home from a family barbecue in Surrey when their silver Jaguar, driven by garden designer Mrs Woodget, 65, drifted into a layby of the dual carriageway and crashed into the back of a parked lorry and its trailer just before 5pm on July 19.

The impact of the collision, on the westbound carriageway of the A303 west of Bullington Cross interchange, near Winchester, caused fatal head injuries, the inquest in Winchester was told on Monday.

It is estimated they were travelling at the 70mph speed limit.

Company director Mr Woodget, 64, died at the scene, while Mrs Woodget died the following day at Southampton General Hospital.

PC Ed Wilson told the hearing no emergency braking had been applied nor had any defects been found with the car.

The road was also approaching a right hand bend, leading him to believe that sleep and fatigue was the overriding factor.

Other examinations confirmed Mr Woodget had been asleep before the crash as his seat was in the reclined position.

Lorry driver Krasimir Kostadinov, from Bulgaria, had been parked in the layby for more than 28 hours as part of the mandatory 45 hour break he has to take each week.

He said in a witness statement that he was lying down in bunk of the trailer when the impact of the crash threw him against the front and knocked him unconscious.

The hearing heard Mrs Woodget did not have any alcohol in her system. The road was said to have been in a good state of repair, the weather was not an issue and the lorry was parked evenly within the layby.

Mr Short, senior coroner for North Hampshire, concluded: “I therefore come to the more likely conclusion faced in this case which is fatigue or sleep.

“Which leads me to think it is more likely than not that this was someone who had a momentary lapse of consciousness. It seems likely that her husband was asleep therefore not in conversation to keep her awake.”

He concluded the couple died as a result of a road traffic collision and added: “It only goes to show how fragile life is and how we take it for granted sometimes.”

Family's tributes to couple killed in crash