A TEENAGER died in a head-on road crash after he had missed the bus, an inquest heard.

James Patrick Woodworth, 17, of Newby Wiske, near Northallerton, North Yorkshire, died when the car he was travelling in collided with another vehicle near Thirsk, on October 23 last year.

The teenager and his friend, Sarah Jane Ryan, of Ripon, had accepted a lift to Newby Wiske after missing the bus from Ripon.

Coroner Michael Oakley heard that Ripon Grammar School pupil Timothy James Ryan, who had passed his driving test 15 days before the crash, had been driving the red Ford Escort estate from Ripon on the A61 to Thirsk.

He turned off at the Busby Stoop roundabout on to the A167 to Northallerton. Shortly afterwards, the car went on to the wrong side of the road and hit a Toyota Yaris, just outside Sandhutton.

Mr Woodworth, the front seat passenger, was pronounced dead at the scene. A post-mortem examination concluded the cause of death was internal chest injuries.

PC Michael Natt, of North Yorkshire Police's accident investigation unit, said there had been water on the road just before the car veered into the path of the Toyota, and Mr Ryan had been travelling at about 50mph around a bend before the crash.

The coroner recorded a verdict of accidental death.