A TAXI driver who died after driving his car off a docks might have been lost, an inquest heard yesterday.

Fellow cabbies told an inquest in Middlesbrough that Abdul Rashid, 49, took his last fare in an area that was poorly lit with ill defined roads through container parks.

Mr Rashid was found floating in Tees Dock, hours after dropping off a Finish crew member at his ship.

Asked by Teesside coroner Michael Sheffield to describe driving conditions at the dock, cabbie Mohammed Amin said: "It is very, very poor. There are no signs where you are going to. There is a very poor lighting system when you go into the dock. It's the same still. At night time you can still get lost.''

Taxi driver Andrew Murphy said: "When you get to where the containers were, there was no clear marked road.''

The inquest heard that Mr Rashid had been driving Mr Amin's car while its owner was in Pakistan.

Finnish chief officer Tarmo Martii Nuutinen - Mr Rashid's last fare - said in a written statement that Mr Rashid was uncommunicative, but seemed in a hurry on the midnight ride from Middlesbrough to Teesport. "He did seem to be in a hurry and appeared to be driving quite fast. Due to the speed the driver was going, I found it difficult to keep him going in the right direction.''

Tees and Hartlepool Port Authority officials told the inquest that vehicle entry permits with tear-off portions to be handed in at the gates were given to authorised traffic coming on to the dock.

An inquest jury heard the checks had been relaxed where late-night taxi runs were concerned to avoid a danger of drunken sailors getting out and wandering around the dock. Asked if a gatehouse barrier was down on the night Mr Rashid died, dock guard Kevin Caraher said: "It's too busy at night to have the barrier down."

He said it was possible the taxi had driven through without him being aware of it.

The inquest into the death of Mr Rashid, who lived in Southwell Square, Middlesbrough, continues today.