A police officer who tested the same road as a young man killed in a head-on crash told an inquest he believed the 25-year-old was going too fast.

Luke Petherbridge, from Faversham, was driving his Toyota Starlet along Lower Road towards Sittingbourne and was between Deerton Street and Osier Road in Teynham, with his best friend Robert Holmes as a front-seat passenger.

The pair had been out to buy car parts.

They mounted the crest of a hill and collided with a Vauxhall Mokka coming in the opposite direction being driven by Diago De Carbalho, who was returning from a visit to the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford.

Mr De Carbalho saw the Toyota coming towards him on his side of the road and managed to brake to a stop before the collision, but he was unable to get out of the way as there was a bank at the side of the road.

Mr Petherbridge also braked, but was still in the estimation of police crash expert PC Simon Masterson "travelling at a considerable speed" when the vehicles met.

Both vehicles were spun around in the crash.

All three men had to be cut free from the wreckage by Kent Fire and Rescue Service.

Sadly, Mr Petherbridge was declared dead at the scene.

Mr Holmes sustained a broken pelvis, hip and right leg and Mr De Carbalho had a broken sternum.

A post mortem later determined that Mr Petherbridge had died as a result of severe brain injuries caused by a fracture to his skull.

The accident happened just after 10.45am on Friday, February 26.

PC Masterson said that Mr Petherbridge would not have seen the oncoming vehicle until he reached the top of the hill.

From analysing the tyre marks left on the road he estimated the Toyota had been travelling at between 57 and 67mph. Although he could not say for certain Mr Petherbridge had been exceeding the legal limit of 60mph, he said in his opinion he had been going too fast for the road conditions.

He said: "Mr Petherbridge was driving at a speed in excess of that which could be considered safe."

He said the highway code made it clear that motorists should drive according to the road conditions and should be able to stop within their line of sight.

Where the cars collided the road narrowed to just 4m meaning a gap of just centimetres existed between both cars.

"He was driving at a speed in excess of that which could be considered safe..."

He said Mr Petherbridge had known the road well.

When testing the road himself subsequently, he said that even cresting the hill at 40mph had been "uncomfortable."

Mr Petherbridge and Mr Holmes lived together in a caravan at Cardox International Ltd, Abbey Works, Abbey Fields Road, Faversham, where Mr Petherbridge's father, Colin Petherbridge, said they acted as unpaid nightwatchmen in a reciprocal arrangement for being allowed to live on the site.

Luke Petherbridge was a fence erector by profession, though he had recently quit his job at the time of the accident.

Toxicology reports did not reveal any evidence of drugs or alcohol and his GP confirmed that Mr Petherbridge was not suffering from any medical condition that would have accounted for the accident.

The day was dry and sunny.

PC Christopher Oliver-Jones said an examination of Mr Petherbridge's Toyota showed it would not have passed an MOT.

The handbrake was not working and non-matching tyres were fitted to the front axle. The inquest heard this could have given an inaccurate speedometer reading in the car, but only by a couple of miles per hour.

Crucially the steering wheel had been changed and was no longer fitted with the factory-standard air-bag, which, the inquest heard, might have saved Mr Petherbridge's life.

There were no back seats in the car.

Mr De Carbalho's vehicle was adapted for disabled use. It was in a good state of repair, the hearing was told. He had an anti-lock braking system. He had been travelling at around 40mph.

PC Masterson said there was no evidence to suggest that Mr Carbalho had been driving in anything other than a safe and competent manner and nothing he had done had contributed to the accident.

The coroner, Bina Patel, concluded the death was a result of a road traffic collision.

At the time of his death, friends had posted tributes to the young man, who had been born in Canterbury and attended Boughton Primary School, describing him as "kind and genuine."

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