An estate agent who died suddenly at the wheel of his car was the victim of a very rare condition.

Alan Gough, who was 47, drowned on dry land.

Mr Gough, managing director of west midlands firm Fraser Wood where he had worked since the age of 18, had been in a canoe earlier that day in Ullswater in the Lake District.

When his canoe capsized, he swam back to shore, apparently unhurt. He had, however, swallowed water.

Hours later, driving back to Walsall, he lost consciousness and his car crashed into a stone wall.

Paramedics, passers-by and his passenger tried to revive him but Mr Gough was pronounced dead at the scene.

Now an inquest has recorded misadventure, saying that he died of secondary drowning.

Alan Sharpe, assistant coroner for Cumbria, said: “This is a condition where water enters the lungs but the person is not fully aware of what has happened.

“They survive the drowning but go on to drown on dry land at a later time.”

Mr Gough, a chartered surveyor who was well known locally and did a great deal of charity work, died in January.