UNDER-inflated tyres have been blamed for a crash which left four people dead.

Coroner Michael Oakley described the two-car crash at Cayton Bay, on the Scarborough to Filey road, as "horrendous and tragic" after hearing at an inquest in Scarborough how three out of five friends in a Vauxhall Astra car had died. A fourth was in hospital with serious injuries six months after the accident.

Maureen Hope, 55, an office manager of Wharfedale, Filey, was driving home in her BMW when it was hit by the Astra driven by Edward Nicholson, 17, of Abbots Garth, Seamer, Scarborouugh. Christopher Jones, 17, of Hartford Road, Cayton, and Gary Westwood, 17, of Kingfisher Close, Crossgates, Scarborough, also died in the crash.

Police road traffic accident investigator Tim Alderson told the hearing that because there were five adults in the Astra, the tyres should have been further inflated.

Mr Nicholson had been driving towards Scarborough at about 60mph when he lost control of the car, owned by his mother, and crashed into Mrs Hope's car.

Friends told the coroner in statements that Mr Nicholson was a good, safe driver.

Passenger Scott Colling said: "We were all mates. I always felt safe with Eddie driving. Another said: "He was a careful, safe driver - the best driver out of all my friends."

Medical tests showed that no one had been drinking, and neither car had any defects, other than the Astra's under-inflated tyres.

Verdicts of accidental death were recorded.