A nightclub doorman was killed when his car split into two after colliding with a 38-tonne oil tanker.

Omer Hussain, 28, was on his way to work at Oxford's Downtown Manhattan nightclub when his car smashed into the tanker on Boxing Day evening.

Mr Hussain, of Mount Street, Aylesbury, was driving along the A418, near Tiddington, when his car skidded on the wet surface and into the path of the oncoming tanker.

The force of the impact caused Hussain's Vauxhall Cavalier to split into two parts. Mr Hussain, who was not wearing a seatbelt, was flung out of his vehicle. He died of multiple injuries. Tanker driver John Winterburn, of Ashdown Road, Southampton, told yesterday's Oxford inquest that he saw the Cavalier swerving sideways towards him.

He said: "It was already on my side of the road. I remember the collision being a very loud explosion.

"I was trying to keep control of the vehicle I was driving."

Accident investigator Stuart Mitchell told the inquest the engine, bonnet and front wheels of the Cavalier were "wedged under the tanker".

He said: "The tanker hit the weakest part of the vehicle. The Cavalier rotated clockwise and collided with the tanker." In a statement, John Garrett, of Cranwell Avenue, Carterton, told the inquest that a vehicle, which he believed to be Mr Hussain's, appeared eager to overtake his car minutes before the accident.

Oxfordshire coroner Nicholas Gardiner recorded a verdict of accidental death although he said he could not speculate why Mr Hussain lost control of his car.

Story date: Thursday 22 April

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