A country road near Telford – location of a double fatal smash when a car careered out of control into a tree – has seen 59 accidents over the past three years, an inquest heard today.

New signs and an advisory 40mph speed limit have recently been installed to warn drivers at Walton bends, on the B5063, near High Ercall.

Experts have also been investigating fears that the road surface is too slippery to meet safety standards, the Telford hearing was told.

Mr Michael Gwynne, Telford & Wrekin coroner, said although drink was a major factor in the deaths of postmen Ralph Brown and Paul Murray, it could not be blamed for the spate of incidents in which cars had spun off the carriageway.

The inquest heard 34-year-old Mr Brown, from Wem, who was driving a black Skoda Fabia, drank four pints of cider and three shots of Aftershock in the hours leading up to the crash on January 11.

Both he and his passenger Mr Murray, from Hanmer, who had celebrated his 21st birthday two days before, died from head injuries after the car went out of control on a bend on a wet road and hit a tree.

Professor Archie Malcolm, consultant pathologist, said Mr Brown had 180mg of alcohol per 100ml of his blood – the legal limit is 80mg – which would have seriously impaired his driving ability.

Olive Turner, of Walton, who has campaigned about safety on the road in question, contacted the coroner after the accident and gave him a dossier of 59 incidents there in the past three years.

She said the majority involved cars losing control on the bends in the wet.

“I don’t recall any incidents of this kind before the road was re-surfaced,” she said.

The hearing continues.