A lorry driver's mate died after being flung from a sleeping 'pod' above the cab during a roadside crash in Spain, an inquest in Oxford heard yesterday (March 17).

Nicholas Jamieson, of Oxford Road, Cowley, was probably asleep when the Headington-based Luker Brothers removal lorry hit a broken-down truck jutting into the two-lane road near Seville.

Mr Jamieson, 21, died from a severe head injury after being flung on to the road.

The driver, Neil Timms, from Bolton, told coroner Nicholas Gardiner that the Mercedes lorry and trailer was on its way to the Algarve in Portugal with a load of furniture when the crash happened in September 2003.

He said they had slept in the pod for the night, but he got up alone the next morning and set off, leaving Mr Jamieson asleep.

Mr Timms said the lorry had a factory-fitted speed limiter set to 90kmh -- about 56 mph -- although this could sometimes be overridden if the vehicle picked up speed downhill.

As he rounded a bend on a flat stretch of road, he saw the vehicle jutting into the road, and indicated to pull out, but was already being overtaken by other vehicles.

At that moment, he received a text on his mobile phone but did not answer it, braked and hit the rear door of the parked lorry.

"The whole side piece of the pod, including the window, was missing -- it went into dust," he said. "The last time I had seen Mr Jamieson he was against the side and asleep, and I think he simply fell out."

Tachograph expert Pc Geoffrey Chambers, of the Thames Valley Police accident investigation unit, said the tachograph chart did not appear to have been fitted to a vehicle with a speed governor. He said he agreed with the Spanish police's estimate that the lorry was travelling just over 90kmh.

Returning a verdict of accidental death, Mr Gardiner, rejected a call from Sarah Boyd, the solicitor acting for the Jamieson family, that it should be one of unlawful killing. He said: "The speed limiter must be suspect, but I don't believe speed was a relevant factor in this case.

"Mr Timms was being overtaken by other vehicles and couldn't swerve too far from the broken down vehicle, but thought he had taken sufficient action to avoid a collision.

"The tragedy is that Mr Jamieson was probably leaning against the side of the pod and probably fell from the vehicle."

A Spanish investigation found that the text message sent to Mr Timms had been unread and that a breathalyser test proved negative. No legal action was taken following the accident.

Ms Boyd said Mr Jamieson's family, from Ireland, would consider pursuing the case in Spain and through the European Court of Human Rights.