A GOOD Samaritan who died when he was hit by a car while helping at the scene of another crash was a "generous, loving family man", an inquest heard.Derek Wright, of Oak Eggar Chase, Ipswich, was hit by a maroon BMW on the southbound carriageway of the A12 in East Bergholt on July 1 when he stopped to assist at the scene of an earlier accident.

A GOOD Samaritan who died when he was hit by a car while helping at the scene of another crash was a "generous, loving family man", an inquest heard.

Derek Wright, of Oak Eggar Chase, Ipswich, was hit by a maroon BMW on the southbound carriageway of the A12 in East Bergholt on July 1 when he stopped to assist at the scene of an earlier accident.

The 52-year-old ground worker pulled over to help when he saw a silver Vauxhall Vectra on its roof in the middle of the road. He crossed the carriageway and stood in the road to try and alert oncoming traffic to the danger, an inquest heard yesterday.

The coroner heard how the BMW driver John Lambert had been travelling southbound along the A12 at about 60mph when he was suddenly confronted by a man standing in the middle of the road.

In a statement to the coroner Mr Lambert said: "Despite braking as hard as I could and swerving to the offside I could not avoid driving at him."

The inquest heard that although Mr Wright, who had been driving a white Austen Maestro van, was wearing a yellow safety jacket the reflective strips had dulled and he may not have had the jacket done up, therefore making it difficult to see him.

In a report to the coroner police accident investigator Andrew Garden said: "In his efforts to warn oncoming traffic Mr Wright may have misjudged the speed and distance of the BMW.

"In my view Mr Lambert had no time to take any effective action whether it consisted of breaking or swerving."

The inquest heard how Mr Wright's wife of 21 years, Pauline, became worried when her husband was late returning from a bowls game. She went out to try and find him and came across the police cars on the A12 where she was informed that her husband had been involved.

A statement from Mr Wright's family said that he was "generally a fit man and careful with everything that he did. He was a very kind, very generous, very loving family man."

A post mortem showed that Mr Wright died of severe damage to bone and soft tissue.

Greater Suffolk coroner Dr Peter Dean recorded a verdict of accidental death.

Dr Dean said: "What we have here are the actions of someone who can genuinely be referred to as a good Samaritan and this makes the outcome even more tragic.

"The only reason he was lost in this way is because he put himself in this position to help others."