A PENSIONER died after a massive heart attack at the wheel of his car, an inquest was told yesterday.

Another motorist thought there was a problem with the slow moving R-registration Rover, which mounted the kerb, in Middlesbrough.

Graham Keenan who ran to offer help said that Brian Piper, 66, told him that he "felt funny".

Mr Keenan said that the retired senior hydraulics engineer was breathing very heavily and suddenly fell unconscious.

Mr Keenan told the Middlesbrough inquest that he rang for an ambulance on his mobile phone, and then he and another driver tried to revive him.

But Mr Piper, of Heatherfields Road, Normanby, died shortly after in hospital, said his widow Gladys, 65.

PC Paul Hunter, of Cleveland Police's crash investigation unit, said that the Rover automatic crashed into a roadside fence at 5mph to 10mph.

Doctor Srikantiah Negarajan, a pathologist, said that death could have occurred at any time.

Michael Sheffield, the coroner for Central Teesside, recorded a verdict of natural causes after the crash in Ormesby Road, Middlesbrough, last December.