A motorist who dropped off a hitch-hiker shortly before he was found with fatal injuries in a lay-by has spoken of the "shocking" difficulty he had trying to contact police.

Nigel Plummer, a student at Sheffield Hallam University, was one of the last people to see Richard Preston alive when he dropped him off on the A34, near Oxford.

Just 30 minutes later, Mr Preston, 24, of Blaby, Leicestershire, was discovered on the roadside, apparently the victim of a hit-and-run. He died of his injuries the following day.

Over the next six days, Mr Plummer tried in vain to answer police appeals for him to come forward. His story comes only days after the Oxford Mail tried to tell Thames Valley Police the whereabouts of arsonist David Blagdon.

Blagdon had escaped from Sudbury Open Prison, in Derbyshire, where he was serving a life sentence for setting fire to curtains at St Laurence's Church, South Hinksey, Oxford, in July, 1978. He travelled to Oxford and phoned the Oxford Mail, which spent 30 minutes trying to pass on his location to police.

After reading the story, a reader wrote to our letters page complaining about the "dismal state of communications with the Thames Valley Police". Two police officers also expressed their concerns.

"I don't really know what's gone wrong," he said. " can't imagine why the officer hadn't got hold of my details. I think it's just a lack of communication within the police force. It's shocking." Mr Plummer said he felt sorry for Mr Preston's relatives. "I was chatting to him for two hours," he said. "It's been over a week since he was killed and I'm sure the family want to know what he was doing and what his last words were.

A Thames Valley Police spokesman said the force was "concerned" that Mr Plummer had experienced problems. "We are looking into this particular case and will be contacting Mr Plummer to establish the exact circumstances," he said. Last week a man came forward to help police with their inquiries following press appeals to locate a Rover Metro driver. No-one has been charged in connection with the incident.