A FAULTY gearbox may have led to an accident that caused the death of a Swindon man on the M4, an inquest heard.

Edward Pawlaczek, 52, an engineer from Greenmeadow in Swin-don, died from his injuries at the Great Western Hospital on January 26 last year following the accident on the M4 three days earlier.

Yesterday, at an inquest into his death held at Swindon central police station, his sister Helena said he was a strong minded individual who took things on board, adding: "He was my big brother, a caring and loving man."

Mr Pawlaczek was driving his black Peugeot 405 eastbound along the M4 between junction 16 and 15 on January 23 when his car collided with a white Volkswagen Transporter van rented from a firm in London.

Tracey Hoghton, a jewellery company manager from London, was driving the van along the motorway after visiting her sister in Tockenham, near Wootton Bassett when the van began to lose power.

She said: "I thought the brakes had got stuck. I tried changing down gears from the moment I sensed the problem.

"The van slowed down a lot. At the last minute I did put my hazard lights on, everything I normally would under the circum- stances."

As Ms Hoghton attempted to pull onto the hard shoulder, she spotted the Peugeot driven by Mr Pawlaczek braking hard before hitting the van.

Mr Pawlaczek's car stopped on the hard shoulder having received serious damage to its front.

He was trapped and was freed by firefighters.

Wiltshire's deputy coroner William Bache heard several written statements from witnesses who saw the accident and from the manager of the hire firm, United Citicar, which rented the van to Ms Hoghton.

In a written statement, Gordon Bloom, the rental firm manager said that no vehicle faults had been recorded by the previous user of the vehicle and that any faults would have been rectified.

Vehicle examiner PC Mark Edwards said he found no faults with the brakes on the van but the hydraulically assisted transmission and friction plates in the gearbox had received substantial damage before the accident and needed replacement.

He said there were no faults with Mr Pawlaczek's Peugeot.

Concluding, Mr Bache described the accident as a most tragic incident, before recording a verdict of accidental death.

Anthony Osborne