A TAXI driver who died minutes after having a row with two men he dropped off at a naval base had a serious heart condition.
Trevor Fentiman, of Gosport was pronounced dead at hospital on Thursday after he was found in his car near HMS Sultan, in Military Road at 2am.
Police were called and arrested two men, a 27-year-old man from Cornwall and a 26-year-old man from Gosport, on suspicion of manslaughter.
Both men were released with no further action and police are not treating Mr Fentiman’s death as suspicious after a post-mortem was carried out.
Mr Fentiman, 68, was working for Hardway Cabs at the time but had previously worked with dispatcher Iain Smith at 710 500 Taxis in Gosport.
Mr Smith said: ‘I’ve known Trevor for six or seven years now.
‘He was a quiet bloke. He worked really hard at weekends, he kept himself to himself.
‘He always seemed to be fair and in good health but obviously when we found out what happened everyone was totally shocked because no one suspected anything at all.
‘He put a lot of work in at weekends.
‘He was a good driver – one of the good ones.
‘He was dedicated to his job and he’ll be sorely missed.’
The post-mortem, carried out on Thursday, found that Mr Fentiman had a serious heart condition and died of a myocardial fibrosis and coronary atheroma.
Police are no longer treating the death as suspicious.
Police are now preparing a file to send to the coroner.
Mr Smith said that Mr Fentiman was a carer for his wife.
‘He was always there taking care of Sue.
‘God knows what she’s going through because obviously he was looking after her,’ he said.
‘They seem to have a good social life. They used to go to bingo together with a couple of other friends of a similar age.
‘They seemed to be living quite a decent life, he never ever seemed to be stressed, he was taking things in his stride basically.’
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