A man who died after crashing into a lorry on the A120 had faults to his car an inquest heard.

William Hadaway, from Witham, was driving eastbound on the A120 towards Braintree on June 22, when he entered a lay-by before hitting a stationary lorry.

The 84-year-old was airlifted to Addenbrooke's Hospital where he died on July 1, nine days after the incident.

An inquest into his death was held at Essex Coroner's Service in Chelmsford on Friday.

The court heard how Mr Hadaway's Citroen Picasso faced a 'automatic breaking system failure' due to a fault in one of the wheel speed sensors.

During the hearing, PC Jason Howard, from Essex Police, said: "The vehicle diverted from the carriageway and collided with the rear of a HGV.

"One of his wheel speed sensors was reported to be faulty, if there is a fault then it shuts down the anti-breaking system, which is designed to stop wheels from locking during emergency breaking.

The court heard that the road surface was dry and did not present any visibility issues.

PC Howard added: "The marks in which the seatbelt was found indicated that the seat belt was being worn at the time of the collision.

"It is highly unlikely the car was in access of the 70 miles per hour speed limit it is more likely he was going around 50 miles per hour.

It is still unknown why Mr Hadaway left the main carriageway to go to the layby.

PC Howard said: "If the anti breaking system had of been working he could have diverted around the lorry.

"The possible reasons for why he left the carriageway are unknown, but it could have been to do with fatigue, ill-attention or distraction."

A postmortem examination was carried out at Broomfield Hospital my Dr Kamel.

He found the cause of death to be multiple injuries due to a road traffic collision.

Natural causes including corrosion of the liver and ischemic heart diseases where also found.

Senior coroner Caroline Beasley-Murray went on to record Mr Hadaways death as an accident.

She said: "I shall record a conclusion that he died as a result of an accident.

"We will never know why he left the carriageway.

"Please ensure my condolences are expressed to the family."