A RUSTY Ford Escort bought for just £50 was partly to blame for a crash that resulted in the deaths of two 19-year-olds, an inquest heard.

Ross Blackburn, of Penn Road, Hazlemere, and Daniel Garrett, of Desborough Avenue, High Wycombe, were passengers in the blue Escort travelling along the A404 Amersham Road when the driver lost control of the vehicle which smashed into a tree on December 13, 2000.

Speaking at the inquest held at High Wycombe Magistrates Court on Wednesday, the driver, Benadict Plares, of Spearing Road, High Wycombe, described the seconds before the impact which resulted in the deaths of two of his friends.

He said: "As we were going down the Amersham Road, I remember taking a right-hand bend. After we came out of the bend the car started pulling towards the right-hand side.

"I tried to pull the car under control by steering it more into the centre of the road.

"By this time Ross realised what was happening so he tried helping me by holding the steering wheel for me."

The owner of the car, Luqman Khan, of Rutland Avenue, High Wycombe, who was also a passenger, said he could not remember the accident.

David Bailey, a pathologist at Wycombe Hospital, said the absence of seat belt marks on the victim's bodies indicated they had not been wearing them.

James Paterson, a vehicle examiner for Thames Valley Police, said the car had tyre pressures nearly twice the recommended levels for a car of that type.

Recording a verdict of accidental death, Buckinghamshire Coroner Richard Hulett put the cause of the accident down to a combination of factors, including the state of the car.