Dad dies after 'falling asleep at wheel' after weeks of sleepless nights

Assistant Gloucestershire coroner Caroline Saunders concluded sleepless nights were a contributing factor. Photo / File

A new father killed in a crash may have fallen asleep at the wheel after weeks of sleepless nights with his newborn child, an inquest has found.

Dimitros Doxiandis, from Birmingham, UK, left home every day at 6am for his job as a building society risk manager. On July 21, he didn't make it to work.

An inquest into the car crash has been told the man and his wife Victoria were deep into life with a newborn baby and had not had a proper night's sleep in five weeks by the time Doxiandis crashed his car.

The couple usually set the alarm for 4.40am but, that fateful morning, the baby woke up at 4am, which meant the parents got to wake up and have breakfast together.

About 7am, Doxiandis' car drove off an overpass and on to the road below.

According to assistant Gloucestershire coroner Caroline Saunders, the new dad either fell asleep at the wheel or misjudged the road when he veered off at a bend.

Investigations found nothing wrong with the car and no evidence of drugs or alcohol in the man's body. Saunders concluded sleepless nights were a contributing factor.