THE survivors of a crash near Worcester that killed two teenagers have given evidence at an inquest into the deaths.

Kerry Roberts and Rebecca Griffiths described the moment the green Ford Fiesta they were travelling in left the A4103 Hereford to Worcester Road at Bransford and crashed into a bridge, instantly killing driver Timothy Evans, aged 17 of Belmont, Hereford.

Back seat passenger, 16-year-old Ashley Attwood, of Hereford's Hinton Road, died three days later in hospital.

At the coroner's court in Stourport-on-Severn this morning Miss Roberts, of Hereford, who was 16 at the time of the crash said the friends, who knew each other from working at Tesco in Hereford, had been Christmas shopping and to the cinema before eating at a Chinese restaurant in the evening.

"It was just normal," she said. "We were talking and the music was on in the car, it was not long after we left Worcester it happened."

She said Timothy did not use his mobile phone while driving and was not speeding, but wrestled with the steering wheel as the car approached a sharp left bend near The Fox Inn at Bransford.

"He began to turn into the road and started to turn a bit more, but we weren't getting around and then his arms went right over and that's when we came off the road," she added.

Miss Roberts said she could not remember if Timothy had slowed down when approaching the bend, but said the car was not travelling very fast when it crashed at about 8.45pm on Wednesday, January 3 last year.

"We went up on the kerb there was wide metal fencing and I just remember it's going over the bonnet, then after that it was just bang, bang and we were getting thrown around and I don't remember waking up after that," she added.

In a statement read out by county coroner Geriant Williams, Rebecca Griffiths said it had been a normal day and she started to doze in the back seat behind the driver because she felt tired. She said she could not remember much about the crash, but remember suddenly waking up when the car hit a bump and being thrown forward.

She added: "I always thought Tim was a really good driver and I stand by that. I never once thought 'oh my god he was a bad driver'."

The inquest, which started today also heard statements read out by those who appeared first on the scene, including a passer-by, staff of The Fox Inn and an ambulance technician. More to follow.