A FAMILY has described their devastation after losing their teenage son in a crash when he was more than three times the drink drive limit.

The parents of James Langrish say it was totally out of character and they could not understand why he decided to drive home after a night out with friends.

The 19-year-old's car collided head-on with a lorry on the A32 between Wickham and Knowle on August 22 last year.

Witnesses described how his car came across the road into the path of the lorry at a bend and tests revealed Mr Langrish, of Soberton, who died from head injuries at the scene, had been 3.1 times the drink drive limit.

Investigation found Mr Langrish's black Corsa was likely travelling at around 75 miles an hour on the 50mph road and the Scania HGV driver Geoffrey Steele at 39mph at the time of the crash, around 3am.

Police crash investigator PC Emma Clifford said that the most likely reason the Corsa had veered across the road was a "combination of the Corsa's speed and the driver being over 3.1 times the limit".

Mr Steele, then 52, from Southampton, told how he braked steering away from the vehicle breaking his wrist in the process.

The inquest, in Portsmouth, heard how Mr Langrish, a former Portsmouth Grammar School pupil, had drunk a two-litre bottle of cider, another pint of cider and a couple of vodka shots before heading to Tiger Tiger nightclub in Portsmouth at around midnight, where friends saw him get another drink.

Close friend Robert Chen said after they got separated he expected to find Mr Langrish back at his house in Portsmouth to stay over as normal, but found his car gone.

Mr Langrish, of Webbs Green, was on a gap year and was to study psychology at university the following month but was working as a kitchen porter at Greens restaurant in Wickham Square.

His mother Joanne last saw her son on the morning the day before his death and returned home to find the lawn mowed and a receipt for petrol and some mints with a mint on top.

Sobbing, Mrs Langrish, who said she could not remember if she had kissed her son goodbye, described him as a "funny, caring and very responsible young man"."

He really really was my rock," she told the inquest."

He was brought up with the right morals and values and it's such a shock to me - the circumstances of his death were not what I would expect of James."

His father David, from Knowle, said his son never drove after drinking and he was "at a loss as to why he made that decision."

Coroner for Portsmouth and South East Hampshire Robert Stone recorded a verdict of accidental death.

In a statement after the inquest the family said: "We do know it was never his intention to drive home that fateful night and whatever led him to make the decision must have been, to him, unavoidable.

"We are totally devastated and our lives will never be the same without him."