FATHER-of-five Alan Goddard died instantly when his car skidded on black ice and struck the back of a stationary lorry.

His tearful wife Doreen heard at Oxford Coroner's Court how the lorry driver had stopped to help a colleague whose vehicle had slid down an embankment minutes earlier.

Mr Goddard, 49, of Havers Avenue, Abingdon, was on his way to work at Rover in Cowley when the accident happened on the A34 near Drayton at 5.30am on December 19.

The driver of the first lorry lost control in the slippery conditions and hit a central reservation barrier before sliding across the road into a ditch. He escaped uninjured. Lorry driver Paul Powell said: "All of a sudden I felt the back of the vehicle coming round. I seemed to get it under control but I went into a skid and went down the ditch."

Lorry driver Michael Richards stopped to help but as there was no hard shoulder his lorry was still half on the carriageway.

Both drivers were in the cab of the parked lorry when Mr Goddard's car ran into the back of it.

Coroner Nicholas Gardiner said: "In that particular area road conditions must have been worse than elsewhere." He said there was no evidence to suggest Mr Goddard was speeding and the parked lorry was clearly flashing its hazard warning lights.

He recorded a verdict of accidental death.