A WAREHOUSE foreman was crushed to death after being driven against a pile of wooden panels by a forklift truck.

An inquest in Southampton heard how David Walker, 55, drove the vehicle by leaning over into the controls in the cab while his feet remained on the ground.

The workplace accident happened on September 7 last year at Montague L Meyer, a company that imports and distributes wood-based panels and worktops, based in Southampton's Western Docks.

Temporary labourer Janusz Stankiawitz was the only person to witness the accident.

He told an eight-member jury on the first day of a two-day inquest at Southampton Coroner's Court how he started work at 7am and saw that the forklift truck belonging to another worker, Charles Colclough, was switched off in the warehouse.

Mr Stankiawitz told how he saw Mr Walker, who had worked for the company for 27 years, drive up in his forklift truck and then ask where Mr Colclough was.

He said: "When I told him (Mr Walker) that he (Mr Colclough) had gone to open the door I was asked to load some wood. Then he (Mr Walker) approached the forklift truck. He put the key in the ignition. He was still standing on the floor.

"He was not in the vehicle. He was accelerating with one hand and driving with another hand."

Asked by Southampton coroner Keith Wiseman whether Mr Walker may have wanted to move the forklift truck because he could not get his vehicle into the space he wanted to, Mr Stankiawitz replied "yes".

The inquest was told how Mr Stankiawitz struggled to help Mr Walker upon realising that he was trapped.

He said: "I wanted to push away the vehicle but it was impossible."

Asked whether the forklift truck was still moving, Mr Stankiawitz said it was and that was why he jumped into the vehicle and turned the ignition key off.

On the second day of the inquest, a family representative questioned whether Mr Walker had in fact been attempting to stop the vehicle and was applying pressure to the brake rather than the accelerator in the few seconds before he died.

Summing up, Mr Wiseman told the jury: "He may have made a miscalculation of some kind and it may have made a movement he did not expect in those last few moments.

"The evidence was clear that if the truck had been driven correctly there would not have been a significant chance of anything going wrong."

Dean Rolls, manager of the depot, said the company ensured that all staff had health and safety training, with forklift drivers having to be re-tested every 18 months.

He said that Mr Walker, of Lewis Silken Way, Aldermoor, Southamp-ton, was himself a health and safety representative for his department.

Verdict: accidental death.