A popular dancer died because of a blow-out on one of his car tyres, an inquest heard.

Anthony Johnson, known as AJ, lost control of his car on the A23 at Pyecombe in the early hours of February 15 when one of his rear tyres exploded.

He crashed into a concrete wall at the edge of a lay-by and then his car rebounded and jammed under the back of a parked lorry.

The inquest at Brighton Magistrates Court heard yesterday he was driving home from a BBC TV dance audition in London and was talking on a mobile phone hands-free kit to friend Jemima Evans when the accident occurred.

Miss Evans, of Palmeira Square, Hove, said: "Everything just went really loud but I couldn't hear him. It was a bit like if you are driving along and there is a lot of water and a lorry goes past. Then it just went dead and cut off."

Mr Johnson, 36, of Kings Road, Brighton, suffered severe head injuries and died the following day at the Royal Sussex County Hospital.

Consultant pathologist David Wright, who carried out the post mortem after looking at Mr Johnson's medical reports, said Mr Johnson would have been unconscious from the first impact. He confirmed Mr Johnson had not been drinking nor taking drugs before the crash.

PC Andrew Wilson-Law, an accident investigator for Sussex Police, confirmed Mr Johnson had worn a seatbelt. He said there were long, curved skid marks in the road and he believed the accident was caused by a tyre blow-out.

He said one of the rear tyres was in bad condition before the accident, even though the tread depth was still legal.

He said: "Mr Johnson may have realised it was near the legal minimum but he may not have realised the actual degradation of the tyre because it was mainly on the inner side."

Brighton and Hove coroner Veronica Hamilton-Deeley recorded a verdict of accidental death.

Many members of Mr Johnson's family travelled down from London to hear the inquest.

Afterwards, Jancie Johnson, Mr Johnson's sister-in-law, said: "This has cleared up a lot of questions we had about what really happened. Hopefully we can get some closure now.

"AJ is very much missed. Everything was coming together for him. He had some big ideas. He was setting up a company that would look at dance for people with hearing disabilities."

The family gave their thanks to the police.

Mr Johnson, who only had partial hearing, taught dancing to adults and schoolchildren.

He worked in clubs and was a familiar face at The Event II in West Street.

He was auditioning for Graham Norton's Strictly Dance Fever on the day of the crash.

Mr Johnson made it to the last 50 in the London auditions but was told just hours before the crash he had not won through to the next stage.