Coroner warns of drink and drug driving after Bordesley Green smash
Dec 27 2010 by Matt Lloyd, Birmingham Mail
A ROOFER from Birmingham was three times over the drink drive limit and had cannabis in his system when his car ploughed into a taxi, an inquest heard.
Andrew Wade, aged 34, of Wilkinson Croft, Stetchford, died in the smash at 3am on February 28 this year on Bordesley Green Road at the junction of Prince Albert Street.
At the inquest into his death witnesses said he was travelling at speed in a BMW Z4 sports car when he tried to overtake two taxis.
During the manoeuvre he clipped the back of a Seat private hire car before smashing headlong into a hackney carriage travelling in the opposite direction.
Despite the efforts of passengers in the other cars and paramedics he suffered serious multiple injuries and died shortly after in Heartlands Hospital.
A post mortem revealed he was three times over the drink drive limit when he got behind the wheel and had a “significant” amount of cannabis in his blood.
Collision investigators said he was travelling at 55mph in the 30mph zone just moments before the fatal smash and was not wearing a seatbelt.
Shahid Ali, the driver of the hackney cab, said he saw the BMW on the wrong side of the road in the seconds before the collision.
“It all happened very fast, it took just seconds. He was on the wrong side of the road then bang, it hit me.
“I realised my arm was broken and then I blacked out.
