A lorry driver from Slovakia never made it home to his family after a crash on the M25 caused by using the wrong type of tyre.

Radioslav Remza, from Smolenice in the Trnava region of Slovakia, had just finished delivering goods in Wellingborough in Northamptonshire on March 11 this year.

The 40-year-old was on his way to catch the ferry back home on the M25 Eastbound near London Colney when around 7.30pm he lost control of the lorry, which flew through a crash barrier and fell down into an embankment.

At his inquest at The Old Courthouse in Hatfield yesterday, eye witness Stephen Lamaq described how he was on his way home from work with his brother when he saw the crash.

He said: “We were just going along when a lorry overtook on the left lane nearest the hard shoulder.

“It all happened quite quickly. I heard a loud bang. It sounded like a tyre or air tank had exploded.

“The lorry lurched to the right and then lurched to the left but I’m not sure what caused it to do that.

“As it moved further to the left it basically flew off the side.”

Mr Lamaq alerted emergency services but was unable to pull over because there was nowhere to stop.

Senior coroner Geoffrey Sullivan Sullivan noted that Mr Remza was pronounced dead at the scene when paramedics arrived and that no alcohol or drugs were detected.

He then went through, step-by-step, Mr Remza’s movement through “continental Europe” from Slovakia to the UK.

Mr Sullivan said: “He was in the Czech Republic when he stopped to rest.

“When he woke he found his front nearside tyre had deflated.

“He texted his wife – Camilla Remzora - that his journey was fine but that he’d had a bit of exercise to change the tyre.”

PC Dave Clarke and PC Stephen Goates, from the collision investigation unit, gave evidence to suggest that the replacement tyre which was put on was the wrong type of tyre, which caused the tyre to deflate and for the lorry to suddenly veer on the motorway.

Joseph Chemyl was Mr Remza’s employer and it was the company’s policy to train drivers how to change tyres correctly and safely every five years.

But the company was more efficient than this and gave training to its employees every two years.

Mr Sullivan summarised, saying: “A tyre was put on to replace the one on steering axle, but the tyre which was put on was a type of tyre which was not designed for that purpose.

“I have heard evidence that tyres are designed for different friction, heat and build-up of forces.

“The tyre which was used was designed for use on a trailer type application and was not for use on a steering axle.”

He concluded that Mr Remza, who was born on August 24, 1974, died in a road traffic collision of multiple traumatic injuries, noting that the circumstance was down to an unsuitable tyre.