A CORONER has branded as callous and reprehensible any motorist who leaves the scene of an accident.

Michael Sheffield was presiding at an inquest in Middlesbrough yesterday, which heard that Kalwa Ali Said Abdullah ran away from an accident, leaving 79-year-old Richard Foley lying in a pool of blood in the road, after knocking him off his bicycle.

The inquest heard he was seen by witnesses abandoning the white Vauxhall Cavalier he had been driving and running away.

Mr Sheffield said: "Any driver who leaves the scene of an accident where someone is hurt or killed has behaved callously and reprehensibly - but that is a matter for another court."

The inquest heard Mr Abdullah had refused to answer police questions when officers interviewed him about the accident the following day.

Cleveland Police crash investigator PC Paul Hunter said Mr Foley, of Huntingdon Green, Norton, may have unwittingly caused the accident at the junction of Norton Road with Newlands Avenue, Stockton.

He said: "The primary cause of this incident was rider error in failing to assess the speed of the oncoming Vauxhall Cavalier. The secondary cause was the excess speed of the Vauxhall."

PC Hunter said the minimum braking speed of the Vauxhall was 37mph in what was a 30mph zone.

Motorist Paul Webster of Central Avenue, Billingham, who witnessed the accident said he thought the Vauxhall had been travelling at "well over" the speed limit.

Bus driver Christopher White, of Oak Rise, North Ormesby, said that the Cavalier overtook his bus at speed and then accelerated.

The fatal accident happened only moments after the car had overtaken the bus.

Retired telephonist Mr Foley was thrown on to the bonnet of the car. He died at the scene.

PC Hunter said had Mr Abdullah stuck to the speed limit he would have had time to brake prior to the collision and Mr Foley's injuries may not have been so severe.

Mr Sheffield recorded a verdict of accidental death.

l Mr Abdullah is due to appear before Teesside magistrates in October charged with careless driving, failing to stop and failing to report an accident. He did not attend the inquest.