A mini van driver was killed in a what appeared to be a freak accident - crushed between his door and a metal post.

Prasert Jenchad, 50, was found squashed between the driver's door and a white steel pole supporting a car park roof in Pattaya, Thailand, at 12:30am.His body has half-inside and half-outside - with his torso resting against the seat but his legs dangling to the ground.

Stunned passers-by called police who said he had been crushed to death and he was pronounced dead at the scene. The mini-van's gear stick was in neutral and the handbrake was off.

With no CCTV at the scene, police said they believe that Prasert was either getting into or leaving the car when it started to roll back and trapped him against the bars.

Anuchit Charoensuk, 26, who found the trapped driver said he was riding a bike when he noticed the body hanging from the mini-van.

He said: ''I went over and saw that the man was clamped stuck. I checked and he was not breathing so immediately called police.''

Prasert's friend and former colleague Somsak Songsuk, 30, said the vehicle had a gear transmission problem.

He said: ''I had also driven this van and it had a gear problem, the transmission did not work correctly. I think that it is the faulty gear system that caused the problem.''

Police said that Prasert's body had been sent for a post mortem examination.

Lieutenant Colonel Chanigan Punpinit said: ''Officers arrived quickly after we received a call. We could not find CCTV to check how this happened.

''We checked the van and the gear was in neutral and witnesses have said it had a g