A coroner says he will investigate an accident hotspot in west Cumbria after a father of three died after being hit by a car as he walked along the A66.

Daniel Geoffrey Fred Bancroft, 37, had been out drinking with friends in Workington until the early hours of May 19 last year when he decided to make the fatal decision to walk home to Cockermouth via the A66.

Mr Barlow, a friend of Daniel Bancroft for about 19 years since meeting him in the army, said he and another friend lost contact with the rest of the group and then decided to get a taxi home.

“I vaguely remember speaking to him (Daniel Bancroft) on the phone,” he said in his statement.

He detailed that he couldn’t recall what was said and that his partner told him to turn off his phone as he was being too loud.

“I turned on my phone at 10.44am and I had a message from Danny saying he was walking home along the A66,” continued the statement.

“It didn’t say what time because I had my phone turned off through the night.”

The inquest heard Mr Bancroft had decided to walk home as he was reluctant to pay £30 for a taxi fare.

Adam Benson, a Special Constable at Cockermouth police station, had just finished his shift at 3am when he began on his drive home.

He entered the roundabout for the A66 and took the second exit onto the Stainburn bypass.

Mr Benson then accelerated up to the 60mph speed limit before a figure in a grey jacket flashed in front of his car, with the officer breaking before striking the man who had been walking in the dark road towards his vehicle.

“There was nothing I could have done to avoid the casualty,” said Mr Benson in his statement, who said the windscreen of his Citroen DS3 was smashed during the crash.

“There was absolutely nothing I could have done.”

Treatment was provided by police at the scene before Mr Bancroft was handed over to paramedics and was taken to the Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle.

Scans and further treatment followed, before it was deemed any further intervention would be frivolous. Palliative care was then provided and Daniel Bancroft was pronounced dead at 8.35am.

The testimony of Mr Benson was backed up by Collision Investigator Dugald Cunningham.

He said there was no evidence the weather, the state of the vehicle, distraction or tiredness of the driver were factors in the collision.

PC Cunningham explained as Mr Benson was travelling at 60mph (the speed limit), he would have had insufficient time to slow down and avoid the collision after he first spotted him.

Sarah Bancroft, wife of Daniel, also had a statement read out on her behalf in the hearing.

She said her husband was “a much loved father to Fern and myself and he is very sadly missed.”

Coroner Simon Ward described the event as: “a terrible, terrible accident” adding “this is not the first time this sort of accident has occurred on this stretch of road.”

He continued: “I will be looking at previous accidents at that point to see what can be done to lessen their volume.

"It is my duty to see if I can prevent further deaths.”

The coroner said Mr Bancroft’s death was caused by serious spinal injuries caused by the crash.

He also suffered a brain injury, which the inquest heard would have been substantial enough to be the sole cause of death.