THE Independent Police Complaints Commission has been informed about a fatal accident involving a Southampton taxi.

The commission has been informed because the victim - a male pedestrian - had "contact" with police officers a few hours before the incident.

The man was in Bevois Valley Road shortly before 4am yesterday when the accident happened.

Part of the area was sealed off for ten hours while police investigated the accident and arranged for the taxi to be taken away for examination.

The road was shut between its junction with Lodge Road and the New Inn. Several side streets leading off the no-go zone were also affected by the closure but services at a nearby mosque were unaffected.

A police spokesman said: "Police have launched an investigation after a man died following a road traffic incident.

"The man was in Bevois Valley Road around 3.45am when he was in collision with a taxi. A section of road was closed while investigations were carried out and the vehicle was recovered.

"Because the man is thought to have had contact with police officers earlier in the evening, the Independent Police Complaints Commission has been informed as a matter of course."

No information about the taxi or the driver has been released, nor would police say what contact they are believed to have had with the victim before the accident.

A post-mortem examination was carried out on the mans body at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital, Winchester, yesterday afternoon.

The accident is understood to have occurred close to Bevois Valley Road's junction with Kingsbury Road.

A South Central Ambulance Service spokesman said the victim suffered serious injuries after being hit by a car and was taken to Southampton General Hospital.

Police are anxious to hear from anyone who was in the Bevois Valley Road area and saw the accident.

Witnesses should call 0845 04545.