A MAN died from his injuries after the van he was driving was involved in a horrific collision, an inquest in Gillingham heard.

Coroner Roger Sykes recorded a verdict of accidental death at the inquest of Ian Cheverst, of Wrotham Road, Meopham, near Gravesend. The 54-year-old died instantly last November when his Mercedes Sprinter was in collision with a Ford Fiesta being driven by Jonathan Martin.

Mr Martin, 18, from Borstal, near Rochester, told the hearing he had been driving along the slip road about to join the A229 Blue Bell Hill when he felt something tugging his steering wheel.

He said: "I felt a big tug and the next thing I knew I had crashed into the central reservation and then into an Audi."

Mr Martin, a student at Mid Kent College, said he had been in no rush to get back to college after returning from a trip to Buckmore Park in Chatham.

He said: "The tug sent me into the dual carriageway before I had wanted to."

Mr Cheverst's widow, Wendy, a passenger in her husband's van when the accident happened, said: "My husband didn't have a chance to make it to the right-hand lane."

PC Tom Morton, of the police crash investigation section, told the inquest there had been a lot of mud on the slip road, owing to nearby construction work. He found that Mr Martin's car had no defects.

Mr Sykes said: "Mr Cheverst died as a result of the multiple injuries he suffered in the accident. My sympathies go to his family."