A TEENAGE driver lost control of a car on a minor Dorset road moments before it crashed into an Army minibus, killing his girlfriend instantly.

An inquest at Bournemouth heard that Aimee Mead, 18, and Simon Harley, 19, from Wiltshire, were on holiday when the tragedy took place in September last year. Simon also died at the scene.

Poole sales engineer Alec Bolwell, who was on a training course with the Territorial Army at the time, said he was at the wheel of the hired Ford Transit minibus when the collision took place.

He was taking passengers from Bovington to Lulworth Camp and had just pulled out into the C6 road between Bere Regis and Wool.

"I suddenly saw a red car. It was sliding from the other side of the road. When it got to me it was completely at 90 degrees," he said.

"I remember somebody shouting: Oh my God!' It hit the front with the passenger side broadside on. I saw glass exploding from all the car's windows."

Kerry Williams, of Trowbridge, was sitting in the second row of seats on the minibus. She described seeing the rear of the Escort "snaking" over the central white line just before the collision. "He was out of control in my opinion," she said.

Dorset Police accident investigator Clifford Beard came across the crash scene on his way home from work. It had drizzled that afternoon after a long dry spell, making the road surface slippery.

He and a member of the public managed to get Simon out of the car. Attempts were made to resuscitate him, but were given up after 45 minutes.

PC Beard said the Escort had gone out of control on a right-hand bend, and the snaking suggested the driver had tried to correct the skid.

In moving statements to the inquest, Aimee's mother Diane described her daughter and Simon as "inseparable", while Simon's mother Susan said: "She was like the other half of him, they were so much alike. We will never see the relationship grow, but knowing they are together forever helps."

District coroner Sheriff Payne recorded that Aimee, of Bowerhill, and Simon, of Chippenham, died from multiple injuries as a result of the collision.

He added: "It seems likely that there was an element of speed involved."