A coroner is to issue a report to Cumbria County Council after a beloved husband and father died when his vehicle collided with a trailer on the A66.
Stephen Cloudsdale, of Millom, died when his Ford Fiesta hit a large goods vehicle, which had its trailer jutting out into the road.
Cockermouth Coroner’s Court heard he would have had less than one second to react to avoid the tragedy, which occurred in the early hours.
The LGV, being driven by Emil Petrov, was sitting in the central reservation at Stainmore, near Kirkby Stephen, ahead of moving into the westbound lane.
Craig Smith, assistant coroner for Cumbria, said concerns over safety along the road were great enough that he would be issuing a report about the stretch to the county council.
Mr Cloudsdale’s wife, Shelagh, painted a picture of a selfless man who ‘never took anything for himself’.
“I feel like I have lost my best friend,” she told the inquest yesterday.
“Both of us loved being by the coast. We have travelled all over the country and also to Italy.”
She said Mr Cloudsdale and son Liam had been ‘like best friends or brothers’.
“Even with both of them as adults they would happily lie on the carpet in the lounge and build Lego,” she said.
On the morning of November 11, 2019, Mr Cloudsdale was travelling to his job as a process operative at James Fisher Nuclear at Malton, North Yorkshire.
The inquest was told it was raining heavily and that Mr Cloudsdale, 61, had his dipped headlights on.
Mr Petrov had spent the night in his LGV at Stainmore Cafe and had just begun his onward journey at around 5.30am.
CCTV footage from the café and a police reconstruction helped investigators to determine what happened.
The inquest heard the rear of Mr Petrov’s LGV was jutting out out into the overtaking eastbound lane as he waited in the central reservation. It was told there was enough room for the LGV to fit entirely within the reservation.
Mr Cloudsdale was approaching in his Ford Fiesta – travelling at between 65 and 75mph – along the unlit A-road and had moved into the right-hand eastbound lane ahead of an overtaking manoeuvre.
The inquest was told that markings on the side of the lorry could have been mistaken ‘for something other than hazard lights’.
PC Nicola Welton, a forensic collision investigator, said the outline of the LGV would only have become visible to Mr Cloudsdale at around 57 metres before impact.
At 75mph, he would have had just 0.96 seconds to react. He died at the scene.
Mr Petrov drove away from the scene, later telling investigators he had not felt the collision.
PC Welton said investigation of the LGV’s accelerometer supported the view that Mr Petrov would not have felt the impact.
After around 15 miles, the LGV driver was flagged down by another motorist who had noticed the damage to the vehicle.
Mr Petrov then turned his LGV around and headed back in the direction of the café.
He was detected and arrested by police while waiting in a traffic queue.
