A YOUNG businessman was killed in a tragic coincidence after being hit by a car driven by his best friend, an inquest has heard.

Lee Ostridge was walking back to his mother’s house in Begbroke, near Yarnton, at 2.30am when he was struck by Nathanial Ford’s Vauxhall Astra.

The pair had been drinking together just 48 hours before the accident on the A44 on October 7 last year.

Oxfordshire Coroner’s Court yesterday heard how Mr Ostridge, 23, was propelled 17m through the air and died instantly.

Mr Ford, who admitted smoking cannabis about four hours before the accident, broke down in tears while giving evidence.

He said: “I went to bed at about 10pm on October 6, and had a spliff before I went to sleep.

“I was then woken up by my girlfriend, Misha Clarke at about 2am, who had an argument with her mother and needed picking up from her home in Middle Barton.

“I drove over and got her. On the way back it was very foggy in parts of the road.

“The first thing I remember is seeing a shadow and slamming on the brakes.”

Mr Ford, who lives only a few hundred yards from Mr Ostridge’s mother, said he brought his car to a halt, before turning it around and putting the lights on full to alert an oncoming lorry.

He said: “It was only when I saw the body I realised it was Lee.

“He was one of my best friends.

“I had only been with him a couple of days earlier and I have known his family for years.

“I checked for a pulse, but I could not find anything.”

As he left the witnesses box, Mr Ford apologised to his friend’s family, who were sitting in court.

Mr Ostridge, who lived in Pine Rise, Witney, was a former pupil of the Marlborough School, in Woodstock and ran hire firm J&L Marquees, which is based in Tackley.

He had been drinking with friends in Woodstock during in the evening and left a party at The Bear Hotel at about 2am.

A toxicology report found his blood alcohol level was twice the legal driving limit, which may have caused “some confusion, disorientation and problems with balance”.

Thames Valley Police collision investigator Terry Anderson said it would have been difficult for Mr Ford to see his friend, who was “standing in the middle of the road with his back to traffic”.

Pathologist Ashley Fegan-Earl said Mr Ostridge died from severe head and neck trauma, adding death would have been “almost instantaneous”.

Recording a verdict of accidental death, Oxfordshire Coroner Nicholas Gardiner said: “The tragedy is that these two men were best mates.

“My heart goes out to both of the families in this respect.”