A singing teacher died when she was hit by a drunk driver who had been banned from the roads for almost 30 years.
Amy Purvis, 36, was on her way back from a choir rehearsal when a Nissan X-Trail drifted into her lane hitting her head on.
The crash caused a “fireball” and Amy’s car ended up on its side.
A professional voice coach and choir leader, she was talking immediately after the crash but died in hospital two days later, her inquest heard.
Doctors said she suffered an “unsurvivable” injury as an artery in her skull has prevented blood reaching her brain.
Charles William Wheatley, 58, who was driving the Nissan, was not wearing a seatbelt and also died at the scene of the crash last December.
The collision happened on the A66 between Rokeby and Greta Bridge in County Durham.
He had a blood alcohol reading of 203 mg per 100ml - more than twice the legal limit of 80mg, the inquest at Darlington Coroners Court was told on Tuesday.
Wheatley was attempting to turn right into Rokeby Grange Farm, where he was living, when he struck Amy head-on.
But the coroner heard how he’d been banned from holding a driving licence for almost 30 years due to suffering from epilepsy since 1993, which made him unfit to drive because of regular seizures.
A post mortem found Wheatley had not been taking the epilepsy medication required to keep his condition under control and he had falsely told his GP that he did not drive.
Amy from Richmond in North Yorkshire, a mum-of-two, had borrowed her mum’s Toyota Yaris and was on her way home from a singing class in Barnard Castle.
Witnesses described seeing Wheatley’s X-Trail cross the central reservation in a gradual motion ‘for no reason’ before striking Amy’s’ Yaris and causing a ‘fireball’.
The inquest heard Amy’s sister Beth Purvis has since taken over a choir that Amy ran to continue her sister’s legacy.
Senior coroner for Durham and Darlington Dr Leslie Hamilton ruled she had died in a road traffic collision and said: “I cannot record a verdict of unlawful killing because the car was not used deliberately to harm.
“I also cannot indicate any criminal liability because the law does not allow me to. Charles Wheatley should not have been driving a vehicle.”
In a statement, Amy’s heartbroken family said: “We continue to miss Amy every day but hope that her unnecessary death will act as a deterrent to anyone who thinks that driving under the influence of alcohol is ever acceptable."
