A SIX-YEAR-OLD boy miraculously survived a car crash which killed the 48-year-old driver, an inquest heard. 

HGV driver Allan McCormick, from Warrington, was pronounced dead at the scene after the car he was driving collided with a tree off the A562 Speke Road Liverpool-bound carriageway, close to the junction of the Knowsley Expressway in Widnes.

The inquest at Warrington Coroner’s Court last Wednesday, June 21, heard how paramedics tried desperately to save the 48-year-old for around an hour on January 3 but he died after sustaining serious injuries.

A group of Good Samaritans, which included an off-duty police officer, also rushed to help rescue Mr McCormick with one of the drivers trying to shield the young boy by keeping him company in a nearby vehicle.

Cheshire coroner Alan Moore told his loved ones they may never know why Mr McCormick lost control of his car as he concluded his death was as a result of a road traffic collision.

But he added Mr McCormick’s judgment may have been impaired due to alcohol after a toxicology examination uncovered he was almost three times over the drink drive limit.

Mr Moore added: “What caused the crash precisely we may never know.

“There were no contaminates in the road and no evidence of distractions.

“We can’t say he was travelling at excessive speeds as there is no clear evidence of that.

“It may be the effect of the alcohol had impaired his judgement.” 

But he added: “We can’t be certain it was the alcohol.

“He may have simply lost control.”

PC Pete Brachaniec, from Cheshire Police’s collision investigation unit, said he believed the car clipped the kerb causing Mr McCormick to oversteer to the right and then the left.

These actions caused the car to turn in an anti-clockwise direction and down the embankment.