Gwynedd crash that killed four teens concludes

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00:00In the words of one mother today, this was a parent's worst nightmare, a day that left

00:06four families heartbroken.

00:07I loved my son unconditionally, 17 years. I watched him grow. I held him, dried his

00:16tears and healed his scrapes. I tried to protect him in every way possible.

00:22It was the 19th of November last year when the Shrewsbury students vanished. They'd been

00:27staying at Jevon's grandfather's home in Harlech the night before and were planning a night

00:32camping in the mountains of Ururi.

00:35The alarm was raised and a two-day search got underway involving mountain rescue teams

00:39and the Coast Guard helicopter. But then the news the families dreaded. The silver Ford

00:44Fiesta that was being driven by 18-year-old Hugo had been spotted by a council worker

00:49close to the villages of Gareg and Llanwrothan, not far from the town of Beddgelert.

00:55And the car on its roof in a drainage ditch, the bodies of the four boys.

01:00In evidence today, we learned that all four had escaped obvious injury in the crash. Instead,

01:06they'd all drowned in the car.

01:09Crash investigators also ruled out mechanical failure. And while it was raining at the time,

01:14they insisted that weather was not a significant factor.

01:18Instead, it was the conclusion of police investigators that recently qualified driver Hugo, while

01:23still within the speed limit, had driven at what they described as a little too fast

01:28into a sharp bend and had lost control of the car.

01:32During the hearing, the inquest heard that this stretch of road had seen multiple crashes,

01:37according to a local farmer. But police said there were no recorded serious collisions

01:42on the bend in question. North Wales police investigator Ian Thompson said the crash was

01:47avoidable.

01:48But delivering her conclusion that this was a road traffic collision, the senior coroner

01:54for North West Wales, Kate Robertson, also said there were concerns that signage at the

01:59time had been inadequate and that fencing should be in place at the crash scene to prevent

02:04vehicles ending up in the ditch.

02:06She said she'll also be writing to the U.K. government to flag her concerns about new

02:12drivers such as Hugo being able to carry passengers.

02:16That's being supported by Harvey's mother. She's calling for a change in the law to introduce

02:20so-called graduated driving licenses that would prevent young drivers from carrying

02:25young passengers for at least six months after passing their tests.

02:29I'm happy with the fact that the coroner sees that there is a risk to young drivers, especially

02:34when taking passengers and needing more experience on a variety of roads. So I'm happy with that

02:40outcome.

02:41Since the crash, work's been carried out on the stretch of road where the boys died to

02:45improve warning signs and to put shredbronze in place to highlight the bend where these

02:50four young teenagers were killed.