A LORRY driver broke down in tears as he apologised to the family of Raymond Green for hitting his car in a fatal collision last January.

Andrew Buller, 53, was behind the wheel of the heavy goods vehicle which ploughed through Mr Green’s black Seat Ibiza shortly after 6.30pm on January 5 on the eastbound carriageway of the M4.

Mr Green, 47, of Royal Wootton Bassett, died as a result of traumatic head injuries caused in the incident which began with him hitting a wild boar between Junctions 16 and 17.

At the inquest into his death in Salisbury today David Ridley, senior coroner for Wiltshire and Swindon, heard the Seat was left stationary in lane one with no lights on after hitting the boar.

Minutes later, Mr Buller, in a Langdons fridge container, saw the unlit car too late to avoid the collision and hit it at a little under 54mph.

“I’m terribly sorry,” said Mr Buller in the witness box, weeping as he addressed the family in court.

Mr Green’s brother responded: “I’m sorry for you too.”

At the end of the inquest, Mr Green’s family said: “The family are devastated by the loss of our lovely Ray and we will miss him always.”

Mr Green, a technical author, was travelling home from work when he hit the boar, which was measured a little over 1m long and 50cm wide and was not traced to any nearby farms.

Wiltshire Police found the car’s headlight switch was turned on and the engine running when the lorry collided with it.

Mr Buller was en route to a Tesco distribution centre in Dagenham when he hit the Seat’s rear off-side after trying to take evasive action in the little time he had.

“The car was in the first lane and looked as if it was parked up. It had no lights on at all,” he said.

“I tried to swerve over, but there was a lorry right beside me and I couldn’t go any further.”

The second lorry was being driven by Stephen Perret, who joined the motorway at Junction 17.

“We are together and I’m gradually overtaking him. We both saw the car and I know he swerved to miss it,” he said.

“I looked in my mirror to go to the outside lane and luckily nothing was coming. I pulled over and so did he, but it just wasn’t enough.”

Each of the men pulled over into the hard shoulder after the collision and while Mr Buller was in shock, Mr Perret attended to the car with emergency services on the telephone.

Mr Green’s wife, sitting in court, asked Mr Perret if he said anything to her husband when he reached him.

“I did speak to him, but I think he had passed. It was too late,” he said, as he too cried in the witness box.

“I just said: ‘It’s all right, buddy, I’ve phoned an ambulance.’ There was nothing I could do.”

It is unclear what Mr Green’s condition was after the first collision, but he was pronounced dead at the scene following the second, at 7.10pm.

Sgt Scott Hill, of Wiltshire Police, also gave evidence to the inquest. He said Mr Green had been travelling between 69 and 85mph when he struck the animal.

He also cleared Mr Buller of any blame in causing the incident.

“My opinion is no driver was responsible for the collision that occurred,” he said.

“This was a dark brown animal not visible in that environment until it was within the range of the Seat’s headlights, which were on dipped beam.

“There was not a sufficient amount of time to avoid the boar and the lorry driver had insufficient time to react to the collision.”

Mr Green’s brother asked Mr Ridley if he would make any directions or warnings about wild boars on the road for the record, but the coroner declined.

He said this was a one-off incident, which at this stage did not require any formal direction from him for the Wiltshire and Swindon area.

In reaching a conclusion of road traffic collision, Mr Ridley said: “It’s a tragic incident, which words cannot describe.

“I would sincerely like to offer my condolences to Ray’s family in relation to the totally untimely death of Ray at the beginning of this year.”