A RETIRED GP's night out with his wife ended in tragedy on a country lane near their home, an inquest heard yesterday.

As Dr Ian Brown drove his wife's Ford Ka towards the couple's home in Burton Leonard, near Ripon, North Yorkshire, after a social engagement in Harrogate, it was in collision with a car that crossed on to the wrong side of the road.

Jennifer Brown, 64, was critically injured and died in Harrogate District Hospital.

Dr Brown, who worked at a GP practice in North House, Ripon, before his retirement, told Coroner Geoff Fell that his wife had been "smashed to pieces" by the impact with the Volvo that veered into their path.

Volvo driver John Coughtrey said: ''There was a bright light in front of me. I believe I braked and there was a tremendous wrenching of metal and after that, I don't remember anything."

An investigation concluded that both cars had their headlights full on when the Volvo drove into the path of the Ford a few days before Christmas.

Recording a verdict of accidental death, Mr Fell said that drink, speed and the full-on headlights had been ruled out as factors in the accident.

Both cars were travelling below the 60mph speed limit and the drivers should have been able to see each other before the collision and would not have been dazzled, he said.