"AN MOT certificate doesn't mean your car is safe". These were the tearful words spoken by a bereaved father yesterday after an inquest heard how his son died in a car which was unfit for the road - despite having passed its MoT.

Hampshire college student Philip Robbins, 18, was flung from the back seat of his friend's Opel Ascona car as it spun out of control between junctions 12 and 13 of the M3 at Eastleigh. He had not been wearing a seatbelt.

The inquest jury yesterday heard how, despite having passed its MoT seven months before the accident in March 2001, investigators found the C-reg vehicle to be unsafe, with serious corrosion.

The corrosion caused a bracket holding the suspension to become detached, causing the car to swerve violently off the road at around 11pm on the fateful night.

Mr Robbins, an English and drama student at King Alfred's College, Winchester, died at the scene of the accident from multiple injuries. He had been catapulted from the vehicle, his body coming to rest in lane one.

He was then hit by two vehicles as he lay on the carriageway.

Mr Robbins had been driven with two fellow students from their homes in Essex, by friend Robert Kemp.

Speaking at the inquest, metal expert Dr Allan Wirth, who had tested the corrosion, said he believed it had been present at the time of the MoT in September 2000. The inquest heard about the limitations of the MoT test from Richard Higgins, a senior vehicle inspector at VOSA, the former Vehicle Inspectorate.

Mr Higgins told the jury that such corrosion might not be noted as part of an MoT. The jury was also alerted to the back of an MoT certificate that states it does not guarantee a roadworthy car for the next 12 months.

In his findings PC Tony Johnson, of the Hampshire police crash investigation unit, confirmed the corrosion had caused the accident.

Philip's father Michael from Benfleet in Essex, said: "Don't rely on your MoT test certificate. What happened to us could happen to anybody."

The jury returned a unanimous verdict of accidental death.