Two elderly ex-RAF servicewomen were killed when their car pulled out in front of a speeding lorry in the Cotswolds, an inquest heard today.

The reason why Valerie Fitzgerald, 84, drove out of a side road into the path of the lorry - which was going at 15mph above its speed limit - would never be known, the Gloucester inquest was told.

But it was clear she had made "a bad judgement call," a coroner ruled.

Both Mrs Fitzgerald, of Great Bedwyn, near Marlborough, and her registered-blind friend Frances Verity, 90, of Witfield Close, Purton, near Swindon, died at the scene of the collision from multiple injuries.

Gloucestershire senior coroner Katy Skerrett was told that although the lorry tractor unit which hit them was doing 55mph a collision would have happened even if driver Peter Jennings had stuck to the 40mph limit for the vehicle.

Mrs Skerrett recorded conclusions that the two widows - who had known each other since their RAF days together - were the victims of a road traffic collision on the A417 at Birdlip, Gloucestershire, on November 4.

The two woman had been away for a weekend together and were returning home in Mrs Fitzgerald's Skoda Fabia car at the time tragedy struck.

The inquest heard Mrs Fitzgerald drove along the B4070 from Birdlip to the junction with the A417 intending to turn right towards Cirencester.

In evidence Mr Jennings said he had collected the M.A.N tractor unit that day from Swindon and was taking it to Leeds.

As he approached the B4070 junction on his left the Skoda just pulled out across him, he said.

"I immediately applied my brakes. There was nowhere for me to go to avoid the collision. It was such a short distance between me and the car," he said.

 Mr Jennings said he hit the Skoda and carried on for about 20 yards before stopping at the far side of the junction.

"I got out of the cab but I was fairly shocked and some people in another car took me and sat me down in their vehicle because they could see I was shaken by what happened," he said.

Witness Michael Newman, who was driving behind the Skoda, said he saw it indicating right as it drove out of the junction as if there was nothing coming.

He then saw the white HGV unit hit it and push it 10-15m to the left. It all happened "in a split second," he said.

Another witness, Alan Burgoyne, who was on the A417 facing east and waiting to turn right at the junction, said he saw one car come out and then the Skoda followed it.

"The lorry driver didn't have a chance," he said.

"It all happened so quickly. "

Collision investigator PC Darren Rosewall said the 'spy in the cab' tachometer showed the lorry unit was doing 55mph.

Although the road has a speed limit of 60mph for ordinary vehicles the HGV limit there is 40mph, he stated.

But he said he had done calculations which showed that if the lorry had been going at 40mph there would still have been a collision although the Skoda would then have been further out onto the main road.

There was "nothing to suggest Mr Jennings was driving in anything other than a normal manner albeit his speed was above his limit," the officer said.

His conclusion was that Mrs Fitzgerald either failed to see or misjudged the position of the HGV unit before she pulled out.

Pathologist Professor Neil Shepherd gave the cause of deaths of both women as multiple injuries.

The coroner said: "Mrs Fitzgerald made a bad judgement call and pulled out at the wrong time.

"Although the HGV was progressing at a speed higher than it should have been it seems clear he was progressing in a safe way. Mrs Fitzgerald pulled out of the junction slowly and a collision was inevitable.

"This led to a tragic outcome - two long term friends losing their lives."