A POSSIBLE under-inflated tyre which suddenly burst led to a van driver being killed, an inquest has been told.

Robert Sims, 45, suffered fatal injuries after losing control of his Mercedes Sprinter which spun into a lorry parked in a lay-by on the Thanet Way.

The accident happened last June on the London-bound dual carriageway of the A299 shortly before the Whitstable slip road.

Off-duty policeman Simon Briggs was driving towards Whitstable with his wife when they were overtaken in the outside lane by Mr Sims. In a statement to the inquest, Mr Briggs estimated the van’s speed to be about 80mph.

He said that he heard a bang and saw the back of the van lift up before it spun round across the carriageway and into a lay-by, where it crashed into the back of a parked lorry.

Mr Briggs and his wife, a former nurse, went to the aid of the van driver who had suffered a serious head injury.

Mr Sims, a single man and mechanical engineer who lived in Tadworth Road, Ashford, was taken to the QEQM Hospital, Margate, but died nine days later.

An expert who examined the fragmented rear tyre said that it was clear it had suffered “a sudden and catastrophic failure”.

He said that there was also evidence it had been seriously under-inflated or over-loaded for some time which probably caused the blow-out.

Verdict: accidental death.