A MOTORIST who died after veering across a busy North Yorkshire road, clipping an oncoming car and smashing into a tree had suffered blackouts in the past, an inquest was told.

Coroner Donald Coverdale heard how Roy Stansfield's vehicle pulled out of a line of York-bound traffic on the A64, near Sand Hutton, and travelled in the right hand lane before colliding with an oncoming vehicle. It veered off the road at about 60mph. Police investigators found no signs of braking. Mr Stansfield, 69, from Brighouse, West Yorkshire, had received medical treatment after blacking out twice three-and-a-half years ago. He had suffered a broken wrist the first time and bruised ribs the second, but no cause had been found.

But Mr Coverdale said of the accident: "It is very difficult to ascertain a reason for what happened. It is clear there was no defect in his car and no defect in the surface of the road, and there were no hazards which he would have been obliged to swerve to avoid.

"The possibilities are that there was a disturbance within the vehicle or inattention by the driver, it's possible he fell asleep or had some physical incapacity, maybe a blackout. But that is only speculative. We are no closer to having any answer to which, if any, of those factors led to this incident."

Mr Stansfield had been alone in his car when the accident happened on September 8 2001. He died the same day in York District Hospital.

He had spent the week playing golf in the Scarborough area and was driving home.

Andrew McMillan, from Whitby, had been driving the car which was in collision with Mr Stansfield's Hyundai Accent.

He said: "I saw the car pull out and it seemed to be weaving a little bit. I moved over to the right to try to avoid hitting it.

"I thought I was going to miss it altogether, but it clipped my front on the left side. It seemed to veer off the road and I saw it hit a tree."

Mr Coverdale recorded an open verdict.

Updated: 13:03 Wednesday, October 30, 2002