06 December 2008

A promising West Country medical student was killed in a crash after a DIY car repair, an inquiry has heard.

Rachael Veale, a student at the Peninsula Medical School in Exeter, died of multiple injuries in Plymouth's Derriford Hospital in the early morning hours of the 19th January.

The investigation to the Council House in Plymouth, as she heard was fatally injured in a crash on the evening of the 18th January to the A38 in Lochau, in the vicinity of Endsleigh Garden Center.

Rachael, 21, was a rear seat passenger in a black 1993 VW Golf, which swerved off the road and hit a tree.

The inquiry heard that driver Alex Pye was his girlfriend, Emily King and three other female medical students from Exeter to Truro.

In a written statement, PC Rachael Ward, a patrol officer at the scene, said she asked Mr Pye, the wheel came off the vehicle.

When she told him it was the offside rear, he replied: "I have the wheel It was my fault. I do not know what else could I have done wrong."

Mr Pye said the investigation he had decided to replace worn wheel bearings and had the advice of mechanics and practiced in a power switch of the yard in front of an amendment to the camp by the offside lamp light on the evening before the crash.

Using a socket set, he tightened the parent operation of the camp, and then drove the car for 25 miles at different speeds, checking to determine whether the camp was always hot.

He said all except he was asleep when the car suddenly swerved violently, skidded off the road and he felt a heavy blow for offside. Although it is in pain, he checked the condition of his passengers, including Rachael.

He added: "I want to tell their parents I'm sorry. If I could I would change it, and if I could swap places, I would."

Plympton traffic policeman MPC Mark Wilkinson, said the Crown Prosecution Service had decided not to charge Mr. Pye with a crime.

Police vehicle examiner John Snow said the offside rear wheel bearing had collapsed after being over-tightened during assembly - "a relatively simple mistake by an inexperienced person."

Collision investigator John Hitchcock, as I said that the rear wheel loosened, the shredded tires on the car of bodywork and burst, which swerve.

Recording a narrative conclusion, Plymouth and South West Devon Coroner Ian Arrow, said the car's offside wheel bearing failed because there were not enough free play because of over-tightening.

Rachael family in a joint statement calls on people to become organ donors.

She said: "Rachael May will be able to continue to save lives, as their spirit will live on through others."