A crash investigator said street lighting was poor on a seafront road where a pedestrian was knocked down by a car and killed.

PC Michael Skingle was giving evidence at the inquest on Andrew Blair, of Melrose Avenue, Portslade.

Mr Blair, 42, was crossing the A259 opposite the King's Head pub at Fishersgate when he was struck by a Volvo.

PC Skingle told the Worthing hearing: "In my opinion the street lighting was quite poor. I would have thought it was quite dark there."

The force of the impact threw Mr Blair into the side of a nearby building and he died of severe head injuries.

Coroner's officer Darren Moffatt said police had been unable to trace the Volvo driver, Fodi Shihadi, who gave his address shortly after the accident as 1A Western Road, Hove.

But he read out a statement from Mr Shihadi taken at the time which said: "I suddenly saw a person standing in the road. I tried to swerve to miss him. The next thing I had hit the person with the front of my car. I saw him lying motionless in the road."

James Rimmer, landlord of the King's Head, said: "I heard a sickening thud. I saw Andy in a heap in the gutter. I could see he was very badly injured."

Investigators calculated the Volvo was doing between 28mph and 35mph at the time of the accident.

The inquest heard that Mr Shihadi may have been dazzled by the lights of an oncoming car, or his vision was obstructed by nearby traffic islands.

He had not been drinking and the police had no plans to press any criminal charges.

West Sussex coroner Roger Stone recorded a verdict of accidental death on Mr Blair, a divorced carpenter.