Outrage at death driver sentence

Mum Karen Harris and stepfather Iain Davey: Anger at sentence

The parents of a 16-year-old girl who was killed in a car crash in Cornwall two years ago are calling for tougher sentences for bad drivers.

Nicola Harris from Tregoodwell near Camelford was a back seat passenger in a car which collided with a bus.

The coroner returned a verdict of accidental death on Friday.

The 17-year-old driver of the car she was in earlier admitted driving without due care and attention and was fined £500 and was banned for a year.

Nicola Harris: Passenger in car

Nicola's mum Karen Harris said: "It's outrageous. Something needs to be done because it will happen again and again and it has to be stopped."

The inquest in Launceston heard from several drivers that driver Gary Crowther, from Delabole near Camelford, was driving dangerously and erratically before the accident.

But an earlier charge of death by dangerous driving was dropped because Crowther had fitted a tyre the wrong way round.

The judge said that might have contributed to the accident.

But Cornwall coroner Derrick Pepperell disagreed and said a tyre fitted the wrong way round would not have caused any difference to the handling.