A coroner has called for highway engineers to improve the drainage on part of the A64 road after hearing how a newly-qualified motorist hit a large area of water which resulted in the car she was driving crashing into an oncoming motorist.

Lisa Burdett, of Arbour Way, Norton, Malton, had been driving a BMW Series 3 car on the A64 at East Heslerton last August, when the accident happened. The driver of the oncoming car, John Everitt, 31, a fence erector, of Carlyle Road, Castleford, died the following day in York District Hospital.

Lisa Burdett said in a statement that she had hit the deep pool of water during a torrential rainstorm. "It pulled me towards the kerb and then into the middle of the road."

Her boyfriend, Brian Jenkinson, of The Meads, Eastfield, who was with her in the car, said: "She was a good driver."

He said that the car swerved to the left when it hit the water "and then shot across the road". He said that he had not been wearing a seat belt and had suffered head injuries.

Joanne Everitt said she had been driving a relative's Vauxhall Cavalier, but asked her husband to take over the driving at Staxton roundabout because of the severe weather conditions.

"The heaven's just opened - there was a torrential downpour. I wasn't happy about driving because of the poor visibility."

Mrs Everitt said that her two young children, Becky and John, had both been seriously injured and Becky was still in hospital.

Bernard Mellor of Lowfields, Staxton, said he was driving from Knapton to Staxton when he saw a car close to the rear of his car.

Mr Mellor said: "I thought 'By hell, that's close'. Shortly after, the car pulled out to overtake. I thought, you are never going to overtake because of all the traffic coming in the opposite direction."

Shortly after that, he saw "a great spray of water" and a car rolling down the bank on the other side of the road.

Mark Perry, a taxi driver from Barnsley, said in a statement: "Driving conditions were appalling - it was lightning as well as raining heavily."

He said there was a considerable amount of standing water.

Traffic Constable Graham McCulloch, an accident investigator, said there had been two other fatal accidents in North Yorkshire on the same day, both caused by heavy rain.

There had been 3-4 millimetres depth of water on the road when he arrived but he believed it would have been greater at the time of the accident.

He said the rear tyres of the BMW, while legal, were "coming to the end of their life" and the tread pattern would not have helped in the driving conditions.

He thought the highway authority was considering putting in a further drainage system at the accident spot. "I believe the drainage was unable to cope with the volume of water - it was the catalyst which caused the accident."

Recording a verdict of accidental death on Mr Everett, the North Yorkshire East Coroner Michael Oakley said it was relevant that Ms Burdett had only limited driving experience having passed her test in July. "The water would have been very difficult to see on the tarmaced road."

He added that he was going to write to the highway authorities officially, asking for the drainage system on the A64 at East Heslerton to be improved.

Updated: 11:03 Thursday, November 29, 2001