A drunk and drugged reveller died after he ploughed his friend’s father’s BMW into a lamppost after an evening in a nightclub.

An inquest was told Jamie Thetford, 21, had been out with friends at Oceana in King’s Road, Brighton,when he took the keys to the high-performance car.

After smashing into a series of concrete posts, the BMW careered into a lamppost in Albion Street on the A259.

The 21-year-old suffered such severe brain injuries in the accident on March 5 that his life support machine was switched off the following day.

His 18-year-old passenger, Hayley Pierce, spent weeks unconscious in Hurstwood Park Neurological Centre in Haywards Heath suffering from critical head injuries.

At an inquest in Brighton, she gave her first public account of what she had pieced together about the night.

The court was told how Mr Thetford and Miss Pierce joined Carly Freeman, 20, for a lift into Brighton with another friend, Giovanni Peretta, 21, who was insured on his father Antonio’s BMW.

Mr Peretta said he planned not to drink but when he changed his mind the group booked a room at the Travelodge in West Street so no one would have to drive home.

Miss Pierce, of Bolsover Road, Worthing, said: “I remember coming out of the club and being in the Travelodge.”

“I didn’t want to stay at the Travelodge. I had work in the morning and wanted to go home.”

Miss Freeman, of Sompting Road, Worthing, who had already left the club described how she received a “panicked” phone call from Hayley saying she wanted to go home.

She said that when she looked at her phone the following morning the last conversation with Hayley had been at 2.29am – minutes before she and Mr Thetford were involved in the fatal accident in Albion Street near Shoreham.

Mr Peretta, of King Edwards Avenue, Worthing, recounted how earlier in the night Mr Thetford had asked him for the keys to the car so he could get something and take it back to the hotel.

But by 3.30am he realised he couldn’t find either Mr Thetford or his father’s car.

Blood tests showed Mr Thetford was 30% over the drink drive limit and had a significant amount of cannabis in his blood at the time of the crash.

Paramedics reached the scene at around 2.39am.

It took East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service about an hour to cut Mr Thetford and Miss Pierce from the wreckage before they were rushed to the Royal Sussex County Hospital.

PC Scott from the forensic collision investigation unit of Sussex Police said examinations of the road and the vehicle showed Mr Thetford had lost control on a “slight” bend and the car had spun anti-clockwise, hitting a series of concrete posts and finally the lamppost.

He said: “It is likely he was travelling at a speed significantly above the 30mph limit.”

He added: “The lamp-post will have been the significant impact – it sliced half way through the vehicle.”

Mr Thetford’s parents, Paul and Claire of Raleigh Crescent, Goring, said they knew their son would not have gone out intending to drive when he was drunk.

Mr Thetford said: “We will never know why Jamie ended up driving.

“We ask that if Hayley ever remembers anything more about that evening she comes to us.”

Brighton and Hove Coroner Veronica Hamilton-Deeley recorded the verdict that Mr Thetford had died as a result of an accident.