Staff at a Norfolk addiction service were retrained after a man who missed a prescription review appointment was found dead in his car at a Norfolk superstore, an inquest heard this morning.

Martin Hackett, 67, was found dead in the driving seat of his car at the Blue Boar Lane Tesco Extra carpark in November last year.

A post-mortem report found Mr Hackett, a retired company director from Sprowston, who had "a long history of drug abuse", died from methadone toxicity.

And an inquest held at Norfolk Coroner's Court heard that staff at the Change Grow Live (CGL) drug and alcohol service were retrained in their missed appointments policy after there was "no evidence [Mr Hackett] was offered an appointment within the time frame" after missing a prescription review for his 50mg of methadone.

At the inquest, on Wednesday, July 3, senior coroner Jacqueline Lake heard from Mr Hackett's son Alexander that his father, born on December 6, 1950 in Hull, East Yorkshire, was adopted aged one and moved to Norwich.

He called him "very bright" and said he was in two classes above his age at the King Edward School, before being expelled and beginning work at a building firm.

"I used to see brown, smelly things in his tobacco tin," he told the inquest, and said his father took Class A drugs including speed, cocaine and later heroin.

He added: "He was always pretty down and I do not believe he sought help with mental health.

"Underneath it all he was a kind and caring person."

Mr Hackett, who lived on Wroxham Road, in Rackheath, was found by members of the public at Blue Boar Lane carpark at 8.50am on Monday, November 5.

Police identified him on scene by his driver's licence and he was pronounced dead by paramedics.

GP Dr Rattner said Mr Hackett suffered ill-health, including a bout of swine flu, which saw him placed in an induced coma for two months, and had later missed respiratory health appointments.

Teresa George, from CGL, said he was "not seen by a prescriber since being transferred to CGL" due to being unable to wait for an slot which was half an hour late.

Histopathologist Dr Geoffrey Waters, said the medical cause of death was methadone toxicity, which could be due to either "chronic therapeutic use or an acute overdose".

Ms Lake recorded a conclusion of a prescribed drug-related death.