THREE men who met as students had been singing university rag songs at the end of a day-long reunion when tragedy struck on a country lane, an inquest heard yesterday.

As they walked along the B1224 Wetherby to York road early on February 3, Mark Jackson was hit by a Volvo.

The inquest, at Harrogate Magistrates' Court, North Yorkshire, heard that Mr Jackson, 41, had been walking with friends Robert Oats and Steve Massey. He had been trying to thumb a lift so the three could get back to his home, in Tockwith, near York.

The men, friends from their days at Nottingham University, had tried to get a taxi but were told they would have to wait for up to two hours, so they set off on a five-mile walk. Witnesses said Mr Jackson was almost in the centre of the road.

Volvo driver Geoff Lindsell, who said he was driving at 55mph, told the inquest: "I had not realised there was anything there.

"As far as I was concerned, the road was clear on my side.''

Recording a verdict of accidental death, Coroner Geoff Fell said the tragedy highlighted the risks of ignoring one of the basic rules of the Highway Code, to walk on the right, facing oncoming traffic.