Leigh Smy probably fell asleep behind the wheel of his car after drinking at a Swindon nightclub, an inquest heard.

Mr Smy, 22, died when the friend's car he was driving careered off the A420 on the Oxfordshire/Swindon boundary, and smashed into a wall at 75mph.

The inquest, held at Swindon police station yesterday, heard how the car was almost split in two by the force of the crash, which ripped two doors off the car and threw Mr Smy 30 yards away into the River Cole.

In a statement made to the court, Swindon police vehicle examiner, Stephen Dudley, said the wreckage which was left by the aftermath of the accident was barely recognisable as a car.

Swindon police accident investigator, PC Matthew Stone, told the court that the car Mr Smy was driving, a Maestro, suffered massive structural damage when it left the A420 and hit a wall at Acorn Bridges. The force of the crash had spun the car around and it was left facing Swindon the opposite direction than Mr Smy had been travelling.

PC Stone said by examining the scene it was possible to tell that Mr Smy had not tried to swerve or put his brakes on, but had left the road and the car had not stopped until it had hit the wall and come to rest on the bank of the river.

The crash happened on December 10 last year, following a night out Mr Smy had with friends at the Brunel Rooms nightclub in Swindon.

The court heard how Mr Smy, of Rosehill, Oxford, decided to meet up with a group of friends for a night out in Swindon at the nightclub.

When they arrived, Mr Smy took the keys to the Maestro, which was owned by one of his friends who was with him at the club, to look after them.

At some point in the evening, Mr Smy was thrown out of the club by a bouncer, although none of the friends could not say why, and by the time they went out to meet him by the car, he was gone and so was the Maestro.

Although a post mortem revealed he was slightly over the drink drive limit, Mr Smy's friends said he did not have much to drink and was having a good time at the club.

Wiltshire deputy corner William Baiche returned a verdict of accidental death.