Shropshire Star

Driver was over drink limit

A former rugby player had been drinking when the car he was driving hit a tree.

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Emrys Evans, 41, from Llanrwst, who had not been wearing a seatbelt, was thrown through the sunroof of the Renault Megane in the crash on the A470 north of Dolgellau, last March.

His passenger Michael Evans survived the crash, an inquest in Caernarfon heard on Thursday.

Mr Evans told the coroner that they had been drinking on the Saturday night then stopped off for a pint at Machynlleth on the Sunday on the way home to Llanrwst.

He described Emrys Evans, a builder and farmer, as a fast driver.

“Every time I went with him he did drive very quickly,” he told the inquest.

He said the car had wobbled and he looked up just before the smash.

"It had been raining. I just remember the wobble and when I looked up I just saw the trees.”

North West Wales senior coroner Dewi Pritchard Jones said a seatbelt saved the passenger but the driver wasn’t in the habit of wearing one. Tests showed the dead man had been more than two-and-a-half times the alcohol limit.

“I believe alcohol is a relevant feature here. It must have impaired his ability first of all to drive the car but more to deal with an emergency situation,” the coroner said.

A conclusion of accidental death was recorded on the former Llandovery and Nant Conwy rugby player.