Limit new drivers after four teen crash - coroner

A coroner investigating a car crash that killed four teenage boys on a camping trip in north Wales wants more restrictions on drivers who have recently passed their tests.

Hugo Morris, 18, Harvey Owen, 17, Wilf Fitchett, 17, and Jevon Hirst, 16, all from Shrewsbury, Shropshire, drowned last November when their car flipped onto its roof in a flooded ditch, leaving the four A-level students trapped.

An inquest heard their deaths on A4085 road near the villages of Garreg and Llanfrothen in Gwynedd were avoidable.

The coroner's prevention of future deaths report to the UK government's Department of Transport says more young people could die unless restrictions are brought in.

"Young drivers are exponentially more likely to be involved in a collision with each similar aged passengers in the car," the senior coroner for north west Wales Kate Robertson says in the report.

The coroner is to issue a report for the prevention of future deaths concerning fencing or a safety barrier in the area and asked Gwynedd council to provide details of the landowner within seven days.

Heather Sanderson, Wilf’s mum, said her "spirits were lifted" after seeing signage had been improved, but much more needed to be done.

The teenagers had been visiting Eryri National Park, also known as Snowdonia, when they set off from Harlech on 19 November to spend the night camping.

The inquest heard Hugo probably took a turn on a rural road too quickly, sending a Ford Fiesta with under-inflated rear tyres into the ditch where it lay unseen for two days despite a major search.

Ms Robertson writes that Hugo has passed his driving test six months and 16 days before the accident and that it was legal for him to carry three passengers because there are no restrictions on new drivers.

"I am concerned that deaths will continue to occur or will occur into the future where younger persons are carried in motor vehicles being driven by newly qualified and/or young drivers," she writes.

The coroner called for a timetable for making changes or a explanation as to why a no changes are needed.