A HAWKSHEAD woman who died when her car ploughed head-on into an HGV on the A590 had almost three times the legal limit of alcohol in her blood.

Joyce Hamblett, 64, of Far Sawrey, was driving along the A590 towards Kendal on February 10 this year in her Rover 216 car.

She was involved in what South Cumbria and Furness coroner Ian Smith described as a "massive, tragic collision" with a 32-tonne lorry coming in the other direction close to Backbarrow at around 11.30am.

Dr Joglekar said he had found that Mrs Hamblett's blood contained 234 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood the legal limit is 80mcg in 100mls. The level of alcohol would have impaired judgement and co-ordination, he said.

Police accident investigators found that, at the moment of impact, all but the back wheels of Mrs Hamblett's car were on the wrong side of the road. There were skid marks where she applied her brakes to no avail.

Mr Smith recorded a verdict of misadventure, explaining to the court that the misadventure verdict was given when someone had taken a risk that led to a fatal accident.