AN 85-year-old man died of a broken heart just two months after his wife was fatally injured when he drove into the back of a parked lorry.

An inquest heard that Allan Boucher was saved from serious injury by a driver's side airbag.

But Nigel Boucher said that his father effectively lost the will to live following the crash in Chatburn in July in which his wife Gertrude, 88, died.

Speaking after the inquest Mr Boucher said his father had never really spoken about the accident before his death.

"He virtually stopped eating and just faded away," said Mr Boucher.

"He eventually died of pneumonia and he was just too weak to fight it. He didn't talk about what happened but it clearly affected him very deeply."

A statement made to police by Mr Boucher Snr before his death revealed that he had seen the lorry and low loader trailer parked in Clitheroe Road opposite the petrol station.

"I recall seeing the lorry parked on the left hand side of the road and the next thing I recall is crashing into the back of it," said Mr Boucher.

"I was not being distracted at all I think I just misjudged the position of the lorry."

Mrs Boucher, of Bowland Court, Clitheroe, suffered multiple injuries in the crash and died eight days later.

Nephew Brian Fawcett told the inquest that he had taken his mother, Joan, to Clitheroe to visit her sister. They had gone to a pub in Chatburn for a meal with Mr and Mrs Boucher and were driving back to Bowland Court when the accident occurred. He was following Mr Boucher's car and told how he had seen the parked lorry a "good distance" ahead.

"I expected Allan to either pull to the right and overtake or stop behind and wait until the road was clear," said Mr Fawcett.

"To my horror he did neither, he just carried on and ran straight into the trailer. I remember shouting 'Oh no!'," he added.

The medical cause of death was bronchopneumonia and pulmonary embolism caused by multiple injuries and coroner Michael Singleton recorded a verdict of accidental death.