A PARTIALLY-SIGHTED man died after walking into the path of a lorry on the A500, an inquest heard.

Andrew McDonald, aged 43, of De-wint Road, Stone, was seen standing in the central reservation before stepping on to the northbound carriageway of the D-road.

He died instantly at the scene, between the Sideway junction and the City Road interchange, at around 8.30pm on October 8 last year.

An inquest at North Staffordshire Coroner's Court in Hartshill yesterday heard lorry driver Sean Nicholas Hewitt had been "terribly shaken" after the accident. He sat on a wall nearby and started to cry.

A statement made by Mr Hewitt was read to the inquest by PC Matt Holdcroft from Longton Police Station.

It said: "He literally walked straight across and looked up at the van as though he was committing suicide.

"I'd put my mortgage on it that he committed suicide. He looked up at me and I thought 'why have you done this to me out of all the other cars and lorries around?'"

The inquest heard Mr Hewitt, from Leicestershire, had been on his way to make a delivery in Warrington.

The vehicle was in "perfect order" and he was travelling at the correct speed and within the legal working hours.

The inquest heard Mr McDonald had lived alone since his mother's death three years earlier.

He had gone Walton Hall Special School in Eccleshall until he was 11, because of his sight problems, and then to boarding school.

He had completed a YTS scheme in gardening, but had been unable to find a job afterwards and spent a lot of his time at home with his mother.

Mr McDonald's brother David said he used a magnifying glass to see things and never wore glasses outside of the house.

And he said that if his brother was out at night he would probably have been "disorientated".

Licensee Beverley Clewes said Mr McDonald had been drinking before the accident at Uncle Tom's Cabin, in Corporation Street, Stoke, where he had consumed four pints of Carling Extra.

The inquest heard he had 296 mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood, compared to the legal driving limit of 80mg per 100ml.

Other drivers told the inquest they had seen Mr McDonald "staggering" around the road.

Motorist Ruth Prokopoviez said: "The gentleman appeared from the central reservation. I had to swerve to avoid him."

The inquest heard a post-mortem examination had shown Mr McDonald had died from multiple injuries.

Assistant deputy coroner Margaret Jones recorded a verdict of accidental death.

She said the lorry driver had "no opportunity whatsoever of avoiding him".

She said: "I do not think he intended to take his own life. The lorry driver thinks he did but I think this is down to the shock of the accident."