Relatives of a man who died after being hit by a rubbish truck have been left furious after his death was ruled as misadventure.

Stephane Aineto, 28, was run over by the vehicle in a pedestrianised area of East Street, Brighton, in the early hours of July 29, 2001.

An inquest in December 2001 into the fatality recorded a verdict of accidental death but that verdict was quashed by the High Court in 2003.

His parents, who live in Toulouse, France, mounted a legal battle to have a fresh inquest held, convinced there was a health and safety failure.

But they flew home yesterday "sick to death" at the British justice system, according to friends, after a jury at Lewes Magistrates' Court returned a verdict of misadventure.

On the first day of the four-day hearing the inquest had heard how Mr Aineto appeared "very drunk" to friends shortly before the accident.

Ron Trussell, whose daughter Margaret Anderson had been going out with Mr Aineto at the time of the accident, said: "They are extremely upset by the outcome. It has taken five years and a lot of money to get to this stage and they feel it has come to nothing."

Mr Trussell said he had trouble believing the "bizarre" verdict. He said regardless of how drunk Mr Aineto may have been he should not have been able to fall under the vehicle.

He said: "There is something seriously wrong here. He was a pedestrian in a pedestrianised zone.

"In this country a pedestrian dies every six weeks because of this kind of accident. Something needs to be done about it."

Mr Aineto, of Upper Lewes Road, Brighton, was hit by a 7.5 tonne lorry owned by Sita who were then the refuse contractors for Brighton and Hove.

Last March, the Health and Safety Executive issued an alert to the waste and recycling industry after nine people were killed in eight weeks in accidents involving refuse trucks.

Earlier this month Anne Smith, a 61-year-old charity worker, was killed when she was hit by a refuse truck in Cranbourne Street, Brighton, on her way to work.

Mr Trussell said the only positive to come from the inquest was that it had enabled Mr Aineto's family to hear information which had previously been unavailable to them.

He said: "After we came out at the end his mother cried. She said to me afterwards that was the first time she had been able to cry since it happened. It is hard to imagine how much must have been bottled up inside her."