A LORRY driver who ended up lost in a Suffolk town was killed when he stepped into the path of an oncoming taxi, an inquest has heard.

A LORRY driver who ended up lost in a Suffolk town was killed when he stepped into the path of an oncoming taxi, an inquest has heard.

Slavomir Cenky, 41, and his fellow driver Anatolij Rimcuk, had stopped a number of times in Stowmarket as they tried to find Duncan Smith Automotive in the town's Tomo Business Park.

Mr Cenky, from Slovakia, died in Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge of severe head injuries two days after he collided with the Toyota Avensis taxi shortly after 6am on December 15 last year.

An inquest into his death, held in Bury St Edmunds, heard how on the third occasion the pair pulled over to seek directions Mr Cenky, who was a passenger in the left-hand drive lorry, spotted a passer-by and started to cross Gipping Road.

But when he was about half way across he realised a taxi was heading towards him. The taxi broke and swerved to the right. But rather than carrying on his way, Mr Cenky accidentally took a step backwards into the path of the car.

In a written statement to the inquest, the pedestrian concerned, Aaron Tegg told how he was on his way to work in Chipping Way when he noticed a lorry pulled over on the other side of the road.

He told how a man got out of the lorry cab with a piece of paper and Mr Tegg assumed the man wanted to ask him for directions.

“The man took a step back and the taxi swerved to the right. I tried to shout a warning but it was too late,” said Mr Tegg.

Pc Gary Buss told the inquest how Mr Cenky and his Ukrainian colleague had arrived in the UK through Dover and had three deliveries to make that day - the first in Stowmarket, the second in Felixstowe and the third in Bedfordshire.

He said both men had experience of driving in the UK but neither knew the exact location of the Tomo Business Park prior to the crash.

Greater Suffolk Coroner Peter Dean, who recorded a verdict of accidental death, said Mr Cenky might still be alive had he not taken a backwards step on the road. “It was a very tragic accident. The taxi driver had a limited ability to see Mr Cenky prior to the accident.”