THE inquest into the deaths of two teenage friends who died in a head on crash heard they were "racing" a friend to McDonald's.

Former Conor Tiley, 18, and Connor Williams, 17, died instantly when the Ford Focus they were in crashed into an oncoming Vauxhall Astra on January 3 of this year. A third friend Cameron Nicholas, 18, who was the front passenger in the car survived.

The inquest at Gwent Coroner's Court, sitting in Newport, heard the crash happened around 7.25pm on A469 New Road, Tir y Berth, Hengoed.

Conor Tiley was driving his Ford Focus, which he had purchased two weeks earlier, when he "lost control" of the car near a shallow right hand bend.

PC Robert Witherall, a forensic collision investigator with Gwent Police, said the road was wet after days of torrential rain and localised flooding. He said surface water of around 12 metres was across the road just after the apex of the bend.

The damage to the cars was indicative of a "high speed collision", he added.

While PC Witherall said an accurate speed couldn't be determined he estimated Conor Tiley's car was travelling around 56.2 mph.

He concluded that Mr Tiley's loss of control could have been as a result of the car aquaplaning or harsh steering in response to driving over surface water.

The court heard, Adam Jones, known to his friends as 'Sheep', had bumped into the trio around 7pm that night. In two separate cars the group decided to go to McDonald’s in Blackwood but took two separate routes.

In her evidence, friend Louise Jones said she spoke on the phone with Mr Williams who was a rear passenger in Mr Tiley's car around eight minutes before the accident.

She said Mr Williams told her "hang on, we're racing Sheep to McDonald’s. We will be about 20 minutes".

She said: "I told them not to do anything silly. Then she heard Mr Williams say "floor it, go faster" followed by laughing.

She added: "I can't help think, if I was in the car I could have stopped it."

Elaine Parsons, who was driving the Vauxhall Astra, described how Mr Tiley's car appeared "out of nowhere" on completely the wrong side of the road coming towards her and she "didn't have time to react".

A post-mortem examination concluded the cause of death for both teenagers to be multiple injuries.

Coroner Wendy James concluded the teenagers had died as a result of a road traffic collision.

She said this tragic incident should be a reminder to all drivers to take care in wet conditions.

She said: "There is nothing Ms Parsons could have done to avoid the collision. In a split second, this incident led to the tragic loss of two young men who had their whole lives ahead of them. Obviously, two young men who made their respective families very proud."

Sean Tiley, in a statement read at the hearing, said his son Conor Jay Tiley, who worked at a Wetherspoon pub in Blackwood, was "our pride and joy, his smile and laughter will be greatly missed".