A MAN who died after his car smashed into a house in a Gwent village was "entirely the author of his own misfortune", according to Gwent coroner David Bowen.

John Edwards' Peugeot car skidded across the A48 at Pwllmeyric, near Chepstow, smashed through a fence post, bounced off the wall of a house, and hit a boundary wall, a Newport inquest heard yesterday.

Its spare wheel came off, smashed through a double glazed door and ended up in the hallway of the house.

Witnesses described the way the car was being driven in the seconds before the crash last May 24 as "reckless, stupid and erratic", and suspected he was racing another car.

Mr Edwards, 21, of Beachley, was estimated to be travelling at around 70mph, too fast for the bend he was on given the car was over the central white line. It was a 40mph zone.

Off-duty fireman Richard Evans said two cars, one the Peugeot, "shot" past him towards Chepstow at Park Wall roundabout on the A48 at about 8.45pm. Moments later he saw the car in the front garden of a house in Pwllmeyric. He stayed with the driver, Mr Edwards, until emergency services arrived.

Another driver, Matthew Hopkins, said the Peugeot and another car overtook him "as if I was standing still" on a section of road marked with chevrons outside the entrance to St Pierre Hotel and Country Club. He estimated their speed to be at around 80mph. A Somerfield delivery lorry driven by Stuart Alexander was also overtaken shortly before the crash. "I had the impression of them racing," he said, adding the Peugeot, would likely to have been completely blind as to anything coming in the opposite direction.

Mr Edwards was pronounced dead on arrival at the Royal Gwent Hospital. His mother Sharon Franklin told the inquest she had taken her grandson to the park and returned to find her son and her Peugeot gone. She assumed he had gone to work.

"Whether or not he was racing is not for me to decide, but it is abundantly clear he was driving too fast for the road," said Mr Bowen.

"Regrettably, he was entirely the author of his own misfortune. His death was due to his own decision to drive his vehicle at too great a speed." Verdict: Misadventure.