Teenager died driving friend's car

David BaleAn uninsured teenager died after driving his friend's car at 'inappropriate' speeds, ending up in a dyke after hitting a tree, an inquest heard.David Bale

An uninsured teenager died after driving his friend's car at 'inappropriate' speeds, ending up in a dyke after hitting a tree, an inquest heard.

Stefan Hilton, 19, pestered his friend Robert Grayson to let him drive the car, but as he was uninsured, his friend refused.

But the teenager jumped into the driver's seat and drove off with his friend in the passenger seat.

Yesterday's Norwich inquest heard the car hit a bump in the road and ended up almost submerged in a dyke. Mr Hilton, a former Stalham High School pupil, from Beach Road, Hemsby, died several days later at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge.

Mr Grayson told the inquest: 'He had asked me to drive the car on previous occasions, but I had always refused. It's my dad's car and he's not insured to drive it.'

Collision investigator Pc Wendy Biddle concluded: 'The accident was caused by the driver driving at inappropriately high speeds for the conditions of the road.'

Greater Norfolk Coroner William Armstrong recorded a verdict of death as a result of a road traffic collision.

The crash happened on the B1159 Horsey road at West Somerton, near Yarmouth, on May 27 last year.

Mr Hilton was pronounced dead on June 5. A medical report gave the cause of death as a severe traumatic head injury.

The fairground worker carried an organ donor card, and his parents Susan and Derek said after the inquest that several people had already benefited.