TWO teenagers who were killed by a train while messing around on railway tracks at Easter were more than twice over the drink-drive limit, an inquest into their deaths has heard.

Stuart Adams, 15, and Lee Mullis, 14, had been part of a group of around 20 young people, some drinking alcohol, when they climbed onto tracks at the Five Arches Bridge in Darlington, on March 25, which was Good Friday.

A jury at the inquest recorded a verdict of accidental death at an emotional hearing which was attended by dozens of family and friends.

The train driver that night, Andy Scott, fought back tears as he recalled the split second he had seen a figure in front of his train, and the moment he had struck it.

PC James Calvert, who was the first police officer on the scene, also visibly distressed, told the inquest the boys' friends had run to him, pulled at his clothing, hysterical as he arrived at the bridge.

Coroner Andrew Tweddle told the inquest, held at Chester-le-Street magistrates' court, that the boys deaths should be a lesson to young people across the country not to mess around on railway tracks.

However, he also stressed there was no evidence the two boys, pupils at Longfield Comprehensive in Darlington, had been playing chicken.

Pathologist Dr Jonathan Hoffman, who carried out the post mortem, said both boys had suffered traumatic brain injuries which caused their deaths.

He said he the amount of alcohol in their bodies was equivalent to four to five pints of beer.