A teenager died when he lost control of the moped he was riding at his friend's house and smashed into a pillar.

Richard Tomkins, 17, of Eynsham Road, Botley, visited his friend, Gareth Chambers, on April 14 last year, an Oxford inquest was told yesterday.

Mr Tomkins, who was studying to be a mechanic at Abingdon College, took his sister's motorcycle helmet when he went to Mr Chambers' home at Botley Lodge.

Mr Chambers said he went to have a bath after Mr Tomkins arrived at the lodge and started riding the moped through woods around the house.

The inquest was told Mr Chambers saw him ride past on the Suzuki machine, without wearing the helmet.

Another friend, Mark Young, of Poplar Grove, Kennington, had been riding the moped a few minutes before.

He watched his friend ride it through some woodland in the grounds. Mr Young said: "I knew he was going too fast, so I shouted at him to slow down and stop.

"But he may not have heard me, because of the noise of the bike."

Mr Young said he then saw his friend crash into a stone pillar beside the lodge gates, which were closed.

He said he ran over to him and pulled the moped off Mr Tomkins after it landed on him.

He dashed into the house to call an ambulance.

Dr Winifred Gray, a consultant pathologist at the John Radcliffe Hospital, in Headington, told the hearing Mr Tomkins died from major head and facial injuries.

Following the accident, Mr Tomkins' friends set light to the moped and destroyed it.

Oxfordshire Coroner Nicholas Gardiner recorded a verdict of accidental death.