A father suffered a diabetic attack at the wheel leading his car to flip on to its roof killing his son.

Jason Grimshaw was distressed during the Chester inquest into the death of nine-year-old Jaiden Gill on the A5117 at Elton, near Chester Services, on July 31, 2016.

Area coroner for Cheshire Claire Welch accepted expert evidence that Mr Grimshaw, a type 1 diabetic, suffered a hypoglycemic attack when he lost control of his blue Ford Focus which rolled at least three times.

Front seat passenger Jaiden, who died at the scene from a massive head injury, was from Wythenshawe, Manchester.

When the accident happened Mr Grimshaw was returning home from a day trip to Wales with Jaiden and another young person, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

The tragic collision happened on the A5117 near Chester Services on July 31, 2016

The single vehicle collision occurred after Mr Grimshaw pulled off the M56 to get a drink and so Jaiden could visit the toilet at Chester Services.

He turned left after missing the sign then did a legal but misjudged u-turn. Other drivers spotted the car being driven erratically in the seconds before the car rolled onto its roof.

Mr Grimshaw was knocked unconscious but came round and got himself out.

Eye witnesses reported him stumbling and slurring his words and wondered if he was drunk.

In a statement read to the inquest, the young rear seat passenger recalled travelling along the M56 when Mr Grimshaw momentarily drifted on to the hard shoulder before exiting at junction 14.

He saw the driver eating chocolate on the slip road and from previous experience suspected a hypoglycemic attack.

Toxicology tests later confirmed only morphine in Mr Grimshaw’s system which had been administered by paramedics. And he told the inquest for clarity: “I don’t drink. Full stop.”

Paramedics giving evidence recalled Mr Grimshaw had appeared fine at the scene but it now seems the chocolate had temporarily corrected his low blood-sugar level.

Tests at Liverpool’s Aintree Hospital revealed ‘extremely low’ levels leading Dr Elizabeth Wilson to believe he had suffered a ‘hypo’ which was the cause of the accident.

Giving evidence, Mr Grimshaw, sitting alongside Jaiden’s mum Michaela Gill, said he had visited a market and funfair in Wales with the two boys where they bought donuts and an airsoft gun for Jaiden.

He had eaten and injected himself with insulin at lunchtime as usual and thought he was ‘fine’ on the way back.

'I would not have carried on'

At one stage the coroner warned him that he did not have to answer in case he incriminated himself.

She asked: “Might you have been able to stop to let the chocolate take effect?”

He responded tearfully: “I think if I had realised what was going on, I would not have carried on. I would not have carried on. I’m sure I wouldn’t.”

Concluding the deceased died of a serious head injury as a result of a road traffic collision, the coroner quoted evidence from the collision investigator.

She said: “His view was that the vehicle had done a u-turn at an appropriate break in the carriageway, that was only partially successful. And once the vehicle had rejoined the opposing carriageway it swerved across onto the opposing carriageway.

“There was then some harsh steering required which then caused the vehicle to overturn, rolling at least three times and ending up back on its original side of the carriageway.

“He confirmed that on his assessment the vehicle had been doing between 53 and 64mph when it crossed into the opposite carriageway on a stretch of road where there is a 70mph speed limit.

“Asked as to his view as to the likely cause of the collision, he told me that having discounted alcohol or drugs or use of a mobile phone or any other distraction, in all likelihood it was, he said, a medical episode.”