An inquest was told that Farook Ali Mosoddar, a taxi driver from Poole was killed in a car crash on the A35 had taken cocaine, was speeding and was not wearing a seatbelt.
An inquest in Dorchester was told that the father of four who worked for United Taxis in Bournemouth was almost killed instantly when his vehicle collided with a Ford Mondeo, which was covered with taxi insurance, on 4th November 2011 at 10.45pm.
West Dorset coroner, Michael Johnston, 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.”
The passenger, 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.”
The driver of the Ford Mondeo, Fedrick Wareham, spent five days in Dorset County Hospital after sustaining critical injuries.
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 not long 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.”
A collision investigator for Dorset Police, PC John Hayward, 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.”
It was revealed in a toxicologist’s report that there was traces of cocaine in Mr Mosoddar’s system.
Mr Johnston , recording a verdict of accidental death, said “For reasons we don’t know for certain the taxi lost control and spun into the other lane.”
