A TAXI driver who careered into a stone wall after losing control on a rural road sent boulders flying up to 40 metres away from the crash scene, an inquest heard.

Cabbie Imran Hussain, 33, had been returning from an early-hours fare from Rawtenstall to Burnley for A1 Tiger Taxis when the collision occurred, Burnley Coroner's Court was told.

Fellow driver Mohammed Suleman said he saw Mr Hussain's Vauxhall Zafira overtake his cab at around 40mph to 50mph, just before Dunnockshaw on the A682.

Moments later he came across Mr Hussain's Vauxhall after it had slid sideways across a verge and into a stone retaining wall, the court was told.

Another driver, Basharat Ali, had stopped to tend to the stricken driver and tried to give him waterm but he feared the worst when he got no response.

Mr Suleman contacted the emergency services but Mr Hussain suffered serious head injuries in the crash and was pronounced dead a short time later.

In a statement, Mr Suleman, who worked for Manchester-based Connect Cars and is from Nelson, said he saw Mr Hussain's Zafira and Mr Ali's Vauxhall Astra overtake him on Burnley Road, at around 4am on November 15 last year.

Mr Suleman said he lost sight of the Zafira but thought little about it at the time.

He passed a BMW garage and then negotiated another couple of bends before arriving at the scene of the crash, near Alma Terrace.

Pc Stephen Burgess, an accident investigator, said the road was damp at the time of the crash and a road sign had been obscured by lichen.

Upon examining the Zafira, he said he could find no mechanical defects but did notice that the nearside tyre was significantly under-inflated.

No evidence could be find of another vehicle being involved in the incident.

Pc Burgess said: "The impact was enough to throw some stones from the wall up to 40 metres.

"It was at some speed and a fairly substantial impact."

The officer said Mr Hussain said the speed or lack of tyre pressure could have caused the loss of control but he may also have been distracted by something else at the time.

East Lancashire coroner Richard Taylor recorded a narrative verdict and said: "We will probably never know what happened that night."