Poole taxi driver killed on A35 had taken cocaine, inquest hears
A TAXI driver killed in a car crash on the A35 was speeding, had taken cocaine and was not wearing a seatbelt, an inquest was told.
Farook Ali Mosoddar, aged 46, from Yarmouth Road, Poole, died after his Peugeot 307 estate taxi collided with a Ford Mondeo on the A35 three miles west of Winterbourne Abbas.
The father-of-four, who worked for Bournemouth-based United Taxis, was killed almost instantly at 10.45pm on November 4 last year, an inquest in Dorchester was told.
Michael Johnston, West Dorset coroner, said: “Mr Mosoddar was working and had taken a fare from Poole to Torquay.
“The passenger, Jiali Chen describes the journey happening at a high speed.”
Miss Chen said: “The weather was not good, it was raining and foggy. We travelled at a very fast speed, sometimes 90mph to 100mph, and I did not feel safe because of the weather conditions.”
Fredrick Wareham, the driver of the blue Ford Mondeo estate, sustained critical injuries and spent five days in Dorset County Hospital.
He said: “It all happened so fast.
“I didn’t see any headlights coming towards me.
“The approaching car was sideways on. The noise was enormous and there was an incredible industrial smell.
“I remember feeling a searing pain down my left side.”
Simon Rossiter, who had been overtaken by Mr Mosoddar minutes before the collision, said: “The taxi went over the hatchings at the end of the dual carriageway and cut me up.
“I was doing about 60mph and the other car was going at about 90mph.
“When I came round the bend I saw hazard lights and realised there had been an accident and that it was the car that had just overtaken me.”
PC John Hayward, a collision investigator for Dorset Police, said: “It was clear from the positioning of the driver’s seatbelt that it had not been worn at the time.”
He added: “It seems the driver may have tried to over-correct his steering while negotiating the bends at the top of the Three Sisters hills and spun out of control.”
A toxicologist’s report revealed traces of cocaine in Mr Mosoddar’s system.
Recording a verdict of accidental death, Mr Johnston said: “For reasons we don’t know for certain the taxi lost control and spun into the other lane.”
source: http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/
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It's a stupid and dangerous thing to do but with drivers needing to work longer hours they will take risks