A VERDICT of death by misadventure has been recorded after a university student was killed in an early morning bus crash at Lancaster last October.

James Christopher Raw, 19, of Neves Hill, Burley Road, Menston, near Ilkley was only weeks into his combined science course at Lancaster University when he died in the tragedy at around 2.30am on October 21 1999.

He was returning from a night out at the Carleton Inn nightclub, Morecambe, when the packed bus he was travelling in hit a lorry on the junction of Parliament Street and Bulk Road in the city.

Both drivers claim that traffic lights controlling the junction were on green.

According to a statement from witness Katherine Williams, a former Lancaster University student now living in the USA, James was stood downstairs on the double-decker bus.

The court in Lancaster heard how he was thrown out of the front of the bus as the window smashed. He was then crushed either by the lorry or the bus.

A post mortem found the cause of death to be multiple injuries, including severe crushing to the head and chest. Death was instant.

North Lancashire Coroner George Howson, said: "This was an accident which, by normal standards, should not have happened and, in those circumstances, the verdict must be one of misadventure."

James' parents, Alan and Janet Raw, who saw him for the last time when they helped him move to the University last September, were both in court.

James' mother broke down as the verdict was announced.

The driver of the bus, David McDermott of Kings Crescent, Morecambe, was not in court, but a statement he made to police after the accident, in which he insisted he did not pass through a red light, was read out.

Lorry driver David Barraclough of Westgrove Avenue, Mould Green, Huddersfield, also insisted that he did not drive past a red light. He was cautioned by police in December.

PC Eric Taylor of Lancashire Police's Accident and Investigation Unit insisted that the lights, which operate on a 'demand' basis, would have closed down if there had been a fault, meaning that two green lights could not have been shown.

Mr Howson said: "Mr Barraclough chose to give evidence and says that he went through the lights on green.

"Mr McDermott said the lights were on green also. We accept that they cannot both be right."