A teenager was killed when he was flung from the passenger seat of a car into the road.

Barry Pescott, 16, suffered multiple injuries from the accident on the A272 at Wisborough Green last year.

An inquest at Worthing Town Hall yesterday heard that Barry, from Coombe Hill, Billingshurst, was not wearing his seatbelt properly at the time.

Tijjani Umar, a consultant pathologist at St Richard's Hospital in Chichester, where Barry was taken, said death had been instantaneous when the accident happened on May 10.

Barry, a student at the Weald School in Billingshurst, was travelling in a black Renault Clio which his friend Ryan McFee, 19, was driving.

No trace of drugs or alcohol was found in either Barry or Ryan.

Barry's father Christopher Radford said his son had not been at school on the day of the accident because he had been on a course.

He and Ryan left Barry's house at about 3pm and Mr Radford's wife Brenda spoke to the teenager on his mobile phone later that evening.

Barry said he was planning to come home but by 6.30pm the family had been told about the accident.

Cecilia Smith, from Wisborough Green, told the inquest she had been driving her Ford Escort west along the A272 as she went to collect her son from school.

She said it had been a clear day and there was not a lot of traffic around.

The inquest was told that when she came round a bend Ms Smith saw a black Clio coming towards her which had veered slightly on to her side of the road.

She swerved to avoid it and the Clio veered left towards a hedge at the side of the road before shooting back across to the wrong side of the road again.

It missed two cars but by this time the Clio was spinning out of control and collided with a blue Ford Focus driven by Graham Johnson.

In a statement Mr Johnson, who was from Wisborough Green but now lives in Suffolk, said everything had happened extremely quickly.

He said the road had been clear but when he went round a bend he saw the black car spinning towards him before he felt a big bang and was knocked unconscious.

In a police interview after the accident Ryan said he and his friend had been playing music and talking as they approached the bend.

He said he remembered starting to change gears and braking slightly as he drove around the bend but felt the back wheels of the car go out of control and slide across the road.

He said he then remembered nothing until he came round to hear a paramedic talking to him.

PC Colin O'Neill from the Sussex Police crash investigation reconstruction unit said there had been no evidence of speeding on the 60mph road.

He said although Ryan had been wearing a seatbelt, Barry only had his looped across his left shoulder. It was not pulled across his body and attached properly.

He said he believed Ryan had gone into the bend, drifted slightly across the road and overcompensated by pulling too hard to the left first and then too hard to the right.

He said the impact forced the passenger door open and Ryan was thrown out.

PC O'Neill was asked by Mr Radford whether Barry could have been wearing a seatbelt but undid by mistake as he panicked.

PC O'Neill said he had never come across something like that happening but it could not be proved one way or another.

West Sussex Coroner Roger Stone recorded a narrative verdict.

He said the deceased was a front seat passenger in a car driven by a friend who had gone out of control on a bend and became involved in a collision with another car.

In the process the deceased was ejected from the car and suffered fatal injuries.

After the inquest Mr Radford said he had always drummed it into his son that he should wear a seatbelt.

He said: "I asked what I did during the hearing because I am hoping that is what happened.

"He was wonderful boy and a good family person.

"He was a tremendous sportsman and loved football and cricket. He used to support Liverpool.

"He was a lovely person."