A motorist who had taken ecstasy and was one and a half times over the legal drink-drive limit collided head-on with a taxi, an inquest heard.

Welder Paul Brian Gilliam, 31, died at the scene of the accident in Boothtown Road, Boothtown, Halifax, after the Ford Sierra car he was driving was in collision with a white Toyota Avensis taxi at about 3.55am on Sunday, March 2.

The inquest at Halifax also heard how Mr Gilliam's car was on the wrong side of the road.

Mr Gilliam, of Granby Street, Queensbury, was driving his wife Tina's uninsured car to a petrol station to buy cigarettes with three friends. They were returning to Queensbury.

The driver of the white taxi, Ghalib Hussain, could not recall anything about the accident due to the serious injuries he received.

Pathologist Dr Ballouf Kwaku Amo-Takyi said Mr Gilliam died as a result of multiple non-survivable head injuries which would have killed him instantly. Toxicological results showed Mr Gilliam had ecstasy in his blood and 123 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood - the legal limit is 80. Coroner Roger Whittaker said the drinks and drugs would have impaired Mr Gilliam's judgement and ability to drive.

Taxi driver Mohammed Hanif was overtaken by Mr Gilliam shortly before the accident. He said he heard the sound of a car's engine "roaring" behind him and the vehicle overtook him "fairly quickly".

Mr Gilliam's three passengers were all from Queensbury and suffered injuries. Steven Sharp-Tetley, 22, of Ford Hill, John Gaukroger, 21, of the Royal Oak pub, Ambler Thorn, and 24-year-old Nathan Hargrave, of Moor Close Lane, had all been drinking on the night of the accident, though not together.

Passengers in the white taxi, Kath and Mark Mahomet, of Burnett Rise, Queensbury, said in statements they felt their taxi was going faster than the 30mph speed limit and Mr Mahomet recalled the taxi swerved to the right before the crash. He spent seven weeks in hospital and his wife received severe whiplash and internal injuries.

A report by road accident investigator Christopher Bentham concluded that both vehicles were roadworthy but the Ford Sierra was on the wrong side of the road.

Recording a verdict of accidental death, Mr Whittaker said: "It is a tragedy when a man of 31 dies in circumstances such as these."