Driver, 80, who killed three people in M40 horror smash when he drove the WRONG way on motorway had brain cancer
A PENSIONER who caused a fatal crash by driving the wrong way down the M40 was probably suffering from confusion caused by cancer in his brain, an inquest heard today.
John Norton, 80, was driving a Subaru towing a caravan when it smashed head-on with a Ford Mondeo driven by former Army officer Stuart Richards, 32, on October 15 last year.
Both men and Mr Norton’s 87-year-old partner Olive Howard died in the crash.
An inquest in Oxford heard he drove the wrong way down the motorway for about four miles before the collision.
Drives used their horns and lights to swerve out the way of the Subaru.
However Mr Norton, a retired foreign exchange banker, continued to drive at between 60mph and 70mph towards incoming vehicles.
The 4×4 eventually ploughed into Mr Richards’ car near Tetsworth village, closing the carriageway for 14 hours.
CRASH FIVE DAYS EARLIER
Friends of Mr Norton told the inquest that in the days before the crash he had been acting strangely.
In a statement Patricia Young said: “He was quite curt, quite sharp. Unlike John.”
The inquest was told he’d also crashed into a parked car five days before the M40 smash. Its owner said he was “not fit to drive” when he reported it to police.
Mr Norton was diagnosed with bladder cancer three years before the fatal collision, which a post-mortem examination showed had spread to his brain.
This could have caused ‘impaired cognitive function’, such as making it harder for him to recognise hazards.
Coroner Darren Salter said: “There is no doubt that this is a tragic, serious and alarming incident to have occurred.
“It’s not something anyone expects to be confronted with.
“What was found was the (cancer) from the bladder (spread) to the brain. It’s likely that Mr Norton’s judgement was impaired by the cancer.”
He recorded a conclusion of “road traffic incident in respect of all three deaths.”
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Mr Salter said he would write to Highways England and Oxfordshire County Council to inquire about the temporary signage at the Wheatley junction where Mr Norton entered the A40 (which becomes the M40) and ask whether there were plans for anything more permanent to make it clearer.
He said: “If we can do anything to reduce the chance of something like this happening again, that is worth exploring.”