A MAN almost drove past the accident which claimed the life of his son, an inquest heard yesterday.

Swimming instructor Steven Clark, 20, was one of three people who died as a result of a collision on the C36 road, between Chilton and Kirk Merrington, in County Durham, on Saturday night.

Alan Clark spoke to his son just minutes earlier, as he left for Chilton from his last lesson in Spennymoor, shortly after 6.30pm, he told South Durham Coroner Colin Penna.

He was diverted by police officers before he reached the scene of the accident, which also killed 86-year-old Agnes Franey and her daughter, Anne Taylor, 54, both from Ferryhill.

Inquests into all three deaths were opened and adjourned at Darlington police station yesterday.

The women had been travelling to Spennymoor to visit relatives in a car driven by Mrs Taylor's husband, Eric, a pest controller, who is being treated in Darlington Memorial Hospital.

The hospital's consultant pathologist, Dr Ursula Earl, said that Mrs Franey, of Kensington Gardens, died from multiple injuries. She was confirmed dead at the Darlington hospital on Saturday night.

Dr Earl said the main cause of school worker Mrs Taylor's death, in Middlesbrough General Hospital on Tuesday, was head injuries.

The injuries of both women were consistent with a road traffic accident, she told the inquest.