THE DEATHS of two teenagers were most likely caused by them rushing home to beat a curfew placed on the car by the insurance company, an inquest heard.
Oliver Pain, 18, from North Nibley, and his passenger and friend Harry Smith, 17, from Lower Wick, died when Oliver's red Renault Clio left the road on Damery Lane in Damery, near the rear of Michaelwood services, as they drove home from a night out with fellow members of the Sodbury Vale Young Farmers’ group.
The inquest on Tuesday heard how the former Katharine Lady Berkeley’s School students suffered serious head injuries as the roof of the car was crushed by trees as it flipped after hitting a ditch at 10.42pm on Tuesday, November 13, 2012.
Oliver had an iKube, a small black box which uses GPS to track the vehicle, installed in the car by his insurers Towergate Smart.
As part of the policy agreement, aimed at making insurance cheaper for young drivers, the car must be stationary from 11pm to 5am otherwise the owner receives a £100 fine.
They also receive a letter if the car is driven over the speed limit by an extra 50 per cent. After three letters the insurance is cancelled but there is no fine issued for speeding breaches.
Acting Gloucestershire coroner David Dooley said that he believed this disparity in penalties encouraged young drivers to speed home to beat the curfew.
"I do consider that this technology, perhaps inadvertently, is creating a risk that wasn't there beforehand. It is geared towards hurting them in the pocket by breaching their curfew, " he said.
"There's perhaps an incentive in the mind of an 18-year-old. On the balance of probabilities, the decision to speed was to avoid breaching this curfew penalty."
Managing director of Towergate Smart, Ian Brown, said at the inquest that there had only ever been two other deaths in cars with their black box, manufactured by Tom Tom, and both were well within curfew times.
He added that drivers were assessed at the end of the policy and given discounts on renewing if there were few or no misdemeanours, with some offered no curfew restrictions.
Police collision investigator David Holland told the court that, looking at the data from the black box, the speed limit had been exceeded throughout the journey and in his opinion Oliver had been driving too fast for the conditions of the road.
Recording a verdict of accidental death for both men, Mr Dooley said he would write a letter to Towergate Smart to ask them to review their penalty policy to prevent similar circumstances in the future.
A statement from Harry’s mother Kerry Copperthwhaite after the hearing said: "They were good lads, still loved and lost by many. The void will never be filled, they will be missed greatly."
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