TWO teenage girls lay dead for almost seven hours in a car which crashed into a tree on an unlit dual carriageway, a coroner has heard.

Ella Alford, 18 was driving home with her friend Aimee Clayton, 18, when her Fiat 500 span off the road and into a tree, killing the pair instantly.

The crash happened just after 10.30pm on March 27, but police were not called to the scene until 5.12am the next morning, where the two 18-year-old college students were found in the wreckage.

The inquest heard that PC Andrew Hammans was the first on the scene on the morning of March 28. He went to the scene on the A30 near Hook, after a passer-by rang 999 after seeing a white car in the bushes.

PC Hammans tried to read a statement to the inquest into the girls' deaths but broke down in tears and was unable to continue speaking.

North Hampshire Coroner Andrew Bradley read the statement, with the police constable nodding teary-eyed in the witness stand to confirm what he had written.

The statement said: "I attended the scene at 5.12am, having received a report of a white car on the side of the A30.

"It was eerily silent. It was a white Fiat 500.

"When I arrived the vehicle looked damp from dew. The lights were not on.

"I thought the vehicle had broken down."

The car had been fitted with a black box data recorder and so investigators were able to see the exact movements of the car before it crashed.

The data showed the girls had been to a McDonald's outlet at 9.42pm on March 27 in Basingstoke, and had then started to drive back home after eating.

The speed recorded showed the girls were travelling at around 73mph, roughly the limit of the road, up until about four seconds before the crash.

Next the car mounted the grassy central reservation, at which point driver Ella corrected her Fiat back on to the Tarmac but over-steered. The little white car slewed out of control and crashed into a tree, travelling at 35mph at the point of impact.

Mr Bradley said: "I have seen the same situation happen many times with experienced drivers behind the wheel."

Ella had passed her driving test the previous August.

Ella's grandfather spoke during the proceedings in Basingstoke, saying she had recently inflated her tyres to the correct level and that he had checked it himself to make sure she had done it correctly.

Coming to a conclusion, Mr Bradley said: "These were two young girls with everything to live for.

"It's quite clear the girls were out having a good time. They were coming home along the A30, with Ella driving.

"It's a dual carriageway. There was an oversteer, this caused the vehicle to yaw.

"They left the carriageway and collided with a tree and the car sustained unbelievable damage.

"This caused the deaths of Ella and her passenger.

"The only comfort I can give to the families is that the girls would not have suffered. There was nothing compatible with life after those injuries.

"There was no apparent reason why she left the road and collided with a tree. Both deaths were accidental."

A statement issued by Ella's family read: "No words can ever express the sorrow and heartbreak we feel as we try to come to terms with the untimely and tragic loss of our beautiful, selfless daughter, granddaughter, sister, niece and cousin. Our kind, funny girl, with the biggest heart, who always put everyone else before herself.

"A tragic loss to our family and the many friends whose lives she touched, she leaves a hole that can never, ever be filled. Forever young, forever beautiful, forever in our hearts."

Aimee’s family also issued a statement which read: "Our beautiful Aimee, our angel, such a unique and amazingly gifted soul who always had time and patience for anybody, destined for great things, but taken far too soon.

"She will be greatly missed by all who knew her and we as a family are left bereft."