TWO friends died in an horrific smash when their speeding car spun off the road after ploughing into another which had pulled out in front of them.

Postman James Waldron was "flying" along the main Stourbridge-Kidderminster road with his 20-year-old passenger Shaun Edwards when the crash happened.

The 19-year-old's Citroen Saxo swept past two other cars just before the Park Gate pub, an inquest in Kidderminster heard.

But another youth, Leroy Stallard, who was waiting at a junction near the pub, either misjudged the teenager's speed or failed to spot him, and pulled straight out into his path.

Ricky Lee Green, who was in Mr Stallard's rented Nissan Micra, described how the Saxo then "undertook" it and clipped the front wing, sending the Micra flying.

Scott Jones, who was driving one of the cars that Mr Waldron overtook, saw the Saxo spin off the road just after 9pm on Sunday, May 6.

It bounced up the kerb, hit a tree and ended up facing the wrong way.

Mr Jones and his friend Jason Pugh were on their way to the Watermill pub in Kidderminster when they noticed the Saxo behind them.

"I was aware of a car right up my tail," he said. "It was so close I couldn't see the headlights. It was doing at least 70mph."

Mr Pugh said it was so close "the inside of our car lit up".

"It shot past. What speed we were doing I don't know, but it passed us like we'd stopped."

Sales rep Mr Edwards, aged 20, of Wardle Way, Kidderminster, died that night. Mr Waldron, also of Wardle Way, died on the operating table the following day.

Deputy coroner Tim Sherwood recorded a verdict of accidental death.