A financial consultant phoned his wife on his mobile phone to tell her he was "fine" after a crash - but died a few hours later.

Khosrow Farzad, 60, made his last phone call sitting on an embankment next to the wreckage of his Volvo 480, which had smashed into a telegraph pole near his home in Forest Road, Colgate, Horsham.

A passing motorist made a 999 call and Mr Farzad was taken to East Surrey Hospital, Redhill. His condition deteriorated and he died a few hours later.

Consultant pathologist Dr Colin Hunter-Craig told an inquest in Crawley Mr Farzad suffered a massive haemorrhage due to a ruptured spleen.

The inquest was told he rang his wife Mina on her mobile phone at the time he was due to pick her up from Horsham and said he had been involved in a car accident.

She told the hearing: "He told me he had concussion and his back was hurting. He was shaken but was fine."

She was later told he had hit a patch of water on the road and lost control of his car.

Traffic officer PC Nigel Barling said he could not find a cause for the crash.

West Sussex deputy coroner Dr David Skipp recorded a verdict of accidental death.