A POPULAR Burnley builder killed in a car accident was three times over the legal alcohol limit when the accident happened, an inquest heard.

The hearing held yesterday in Burnley was told how Scott Grimshaw, 28, of Scott Street, was killed on August 1 when his Vauxhall Astra collided head-on with a Honda Civic, driven by Brierfield man Aftab Ali, 25, on Accrington Road.

Burnley General Hospital pathologist, Dr Alexandar Howat, said Scott broke his neck and spinal cord in the accident.

The inquest heard how Scott had been to a party at his local pub - the George IV, in Burnley - where had had drunk between six and eight pints of Carling lager and three measures of Bailey's.

His friend Joseph O'Callerghan, of Pinfold Place, Nelson, said Scott phoned him at about 10.30pm and asked him to come to the party.

He stayed until about 12.30am but said he hadn't been drinking and offered Scott a lift home. He said he had asked him not to get behind the wheel but he insisted on doing so and told him he was just going to drive down the road to his girlfriend's house. Mr Grimshaw's passenger, 18-year-old Rosie Robinson, also of Scott Street, received facial injuries and underwent plastic surgery after the accident. She gave evidence at the inquest and said Scott didn't appear to be drunk and wasn't driving erratically.

She said: "I had about three pints. I didn't see him have that much to drink. I didn't think he was that drunk. I was going to catch the bus but Scott said he was going home to his mum's house so he said he'd give me a lift."

She said they had stopped at a petrol station before they drove down Rossendale Road and turned left at Accrington Road.

PC Neil Marr, of the Road Policing Unit in Colne, interviewed Mr Ali after the accident.

He said Mr Ali was on his way home after a night's work at Network 65 Industrial Estate, Burnley, as a security guard. CCTV evidence on the industrial estate showed Mr Ali had been driving normally with his headlights switched on.

In a statement read out by East Lancashire coroner Richard Taylor from Mr Ali, he said: "I was going between 30-35 mile per hour. I saw a car on my side of the road. I could see bright lights coming at me."

He added: "We collided. When I got out of the car I could hear a female passenger shouting something. I got near to a sign and then all of a sudden I fell to the floor. I didn't realise what was going on."

Accident investigator, PC Richard Roberts, said: "Both vehicles were positioned slightly over the white line. The blood levels of Scott were more than three times over the legal limit, which would have been moderate intoxication. It would have an impact on sensory levels and slow down reaction times."

Mr Taylor said: "Everything I have read or heard about Scott is that he was a very popular young man. It's a tragedy that he decided to drive that night. The best evidence comes from the accident investigator and he believes the likelihood is that when Scott approached the lefthand bend, for some reason, he went too wide."

He recorded a verdict of accidental death. Scott's mum and dad, Catherine, 56, and George, 52, as well as his sisters Marie, 34, Michelle, 25, Kirsty, 32, and brother Jack, 30, as well as his girlfriend of seven years, Vicky Holt, 30, were still trying to come to terms with his death.