SWINDON teenager Neil Cole has died in hospital after a skateboarding accident.

Friends gathered at the Walkabout pub in the town centre last night to mourn the 18-year-old.

Neil, of Ferndale, suffered serious head injuries after falling from his long board while travelling downhill between Porth and Trevelgue, near Newquay, Cornwall.

Family rushed to his bedside at the Royal Cornwall Hospital and were with him when he died at 7.40pm last night.

Ryan O'Doherty, 23, who worked with Neil at the Just Add Water surf shop in the Brunel Centre, said staff were stunned by his death.

"He was a kind of crazy guy," he said. "He was the life and soul of the party and the kind of guy that was always up for a laugh. He was just a really nice guy."

Last year, the teenager, who was a barman at The Victoria pub in Old Town, won the South West regional heats of the Walkabout bar's Beach Babes and Surf Dudes contest.

Friends say he had a passion for sports such as surfing, skating and BMX biking.

Stuart Bonuda, 24, manager of the Walkabout, said about 30 people paid their last respects in the bar.

"He was a colourful, happy character and used to hang about here with his mates," he said.

"I was shocked when one of his mates told me what had happened."

The teenager had travelled to the popular surf spot with his housemates to take part in the annual Run to the Sun event.

Organisers of the three-day extravaganza say Neil lost control while travelling down a steep hill and banged his head on the road.

Mike Finnegan, of Run to the Sun, said: "I feel so much for his parents and family. He was a young man in the prime of his life. For everything to go badly wrong after doing something as normal as skateboarding is a terrible tragedy.

"From what I heard he was being pulled up a very steep hill by a van and then came down and lost control and smacked his head on the road.

"No other vehicle or individual was involved."

Police say Neil was not wearing a helmet when the accident happened shortly after noon on Saturday.

Ben Payne