Man, 25, killed near golf club (From Warrington Guardian)

Man, 25, killed near golf club

A YOUNG man died from multiple injuries after his sports car clipped a kerb, careered off the road and hit a tree.

Paul McDonald had been on his way to pick up a friend in Knutsford to watch the FA Cup Final on May 22.

But he lost control of his Lotus Elan as he approached a double bend near the Mere Golf and Country Club.

At an inquest last week it emerged that the car had a faulty wheel.

Police vehicle examiner Maurice Lansom Jones told Cheshire deputy coroner Janet Napier that he had found that the wheel bearings on the car had been over tightened.

This, he said, had caused them to collapse, which, in turn loosened the wheel and resulted in it clipping the kerb.

The inquest was told that Mr McDonald, 25, of Frederick Street, Latchford, had approached a garage for an estimate to repair damage from an earlier accident.

Paul Anderson, a service manager at Christopher Neil Ltd, said the garage checked over the car and told Mr McDonald that the wheels were buckled, but he did not return.

Instead he went to another garage, did not mention the problem with the wheels and asked that only the bodywork be repaired.

But Mr McDonald's father John told how sometime between then and the day of the fatal accident, the wheels had been changed.

He suspected that either his son or a friend had tackled the job and probably over tightened the bearings.

Verdict: Accidental death