Inquest Into Supercar Crash Death

29 July 2013, 17:16 | Updated: 30 March 2016, 13:50

An inquest has found a man who died when his super car crashed into a bus in Gosforth was three times the drink drive limit.

Andrew Quinn, from Gosforth,was also speeding and not wearing a seatbelt after spending several hours in a pub with a friend.

His £90,000 white Audi R8 was travelling at a speed of 72mph when it collided head-on with an Arriva bus on Great North Road.

In a statement read out at the Newcastle inquest into his death, his wife Samantha said:
"Andrew was a family man who was devoted to myself and our children. He was extremely motivated and hard working with good morals. He was a natural born leader with charisma and charm.

He was a loving husband, father, son and brother. It was very out of character for Andrew to drink and drive.

I was expecting him to call and ask to be picked up from Jesmond as he had done in the past.

This has impacted hugely on mine and my children's lives. I have lost my husband and my children have lost their father.

I know Andrew would have been absolutely devastated to know how much pain and sorrow his death has caused us."

Mr Quinn had been out with a friend at Osbornes bar in Jesmond from early afternoon on Sunday, October 21st, last year.

They met to watch the Wear-Tyne football derby.

They spent around seven hours together, during which time it was estimated he drank around seven pints of lager before he left to get a taxi home shortly before 8pm.

It was just less than an hour later when Mr Quinn, for reasons that may never be established, decided to get in his Audi R8 and drive the short journey home from Jesmond to Gosforth.

When he was travelling southbound towards Gosforth High Street on Great North Road, he overtook a car close to where the speed limit changes from 50mph to 30mph.

Coroner Karen Dilks said the collision was down to driver error but the consequences were "wholly unintended" and therefore recorded a verdict of accidental death.