A TEENAGER told an inquest of the horrific moment when his friend died in a crash as they drove home in the early hours.

And a coroner issued a warning to young male drivers, saying the incident, involving speed, was all too familiar.

The hearing was told that Sean Paul McNally was more than twice the legal drink driving limit and that just a week before the tragic incident he had failed his driving test for the second time.

Sean, 18, of Briarcroft, was pulled from the wreckage of the van after it hit a tree at the junction of Livesey Branch Road and Bolton Road at Ewood on March 2.

He was dead on arrival at Blackburn Infirmary.

His friend Garry Fletcher told the inquest: "I was messing with the radio and I had no idea how fast we were going.

"I looked up and saw the tree and the lamppost and I braced myself for a crash and put my arms over my face."

Garry got out of the van but another friend, Aaron Shred, who was in the back, had momentarily lost consciousness.

He told the inquest Sean was in the driver's seat, covered in blood with his eyes open.

"I asked him to blink if he could hear me," said Garry. "He didn't blink."

Sean, Garry, 18, and Aaron, 15, who also live in Briarcroft, had spent the afternoon of March 2 hanging around outside a local chip shop talking and sunbathing.

During the afternoon Sean's cousin Dean had joined them and told them about a band appearing in Darwen that night and the four had arranged to meet at Sean's house and go to the gig.

The four friends left a club where they had been playing snooker after the gig at different times, going on to Bar Jam and the Roxy.

Garry said Sean and Dean had both disappeared, but he later bumped into Sean near the kebab shop and they shared a taxi home.

After being dropped off Garry set off walking up the street when Sean suggested they should take the van and pick Aaron up. Garry said they drove from Darwen town centre towards Ewood and for some reason Sean missed his turn into Branch Road.

Aaron said that in the moments before the crash he had been sending text messages and had not been paying much attention to what was happening.

A police accident investigator said the vehicle had been doing at least 43mph before it braked.

He said the accident had been caused by the approach speed and the late reaction of the driver to the oncoming left hand bend.

A post-mortem examination revealed a blood alcohol level of 162 against the legal limit of 80.

Recording a verdict of accidental death coroner Michael Singleton said the circumstances of the incident were "regrettably all too familiar."

"This kind of attitude, especially among young men, is all too prevalent," said Mr Singleton.

"I just hope that when others read about what happened something might strike a chord."