A bus driver who had been recovering from drug addiction died after accidentally overdosing on heroin, an inquest heard.

Neil Remnant, 32, of Saunders Road, Cowley, Oxford, had been using drugs since his teens and had been injecting heroin and crack cocaine for about 10 years.

Oxford Coroner's Court heard yesterday that he went into rehabilitation for three months at the beginning of last year, later returning to live with girlfriend Zoe McIntosh and began work as a bus driver for Stagecoach, based at the company's Oxford depot, in Horspath Road.

Ms McIntosh told the inquest she believed that Mr Remnant had stopped using drugs.

She found a syringe in their house, but he told her he had used it to inject painkillers for a stomach ulcer.

On February 14 this year, a neighbour found him Mr Remnant's body next to a wheelie bin shed at the back of Saunders Road.

Police officers discovered an empty syringe close to his body.

Deputy Oxfordshire coroner Dorothy Flood recorded a verdict of accidental death.

She said: "It's quite likely that he returned to using heroin, not realising that he had lost a significant level of tolerance and the amount he took on this occasion proved fatal."

Stagecoach spokesman Chris Childs said Mr Remnant had worked for the company for about four months.

He added: "Our sympathies are with his friends and family."