Michael Scholey, 19, was driving a blue Peugeot 207 on the night of the crash last November. His girlfriend Kirsty Goulding, 17, was in the front seat and her friend Kelly Cooper, 16, was in the back.

All three died at the scene of the accident on the A635 Doncaster Road, near Ardsley, after the car left the road and hit a large stone wall at the entrance to Tyers Hall Farm.

Police believe the car was travelling from Barnsley towards Doncaster when it swerved for some reason, overturned and slid backwards on its roof before striking the wall and righting itself.

The inquest, at Sheffield's Medico Legal Centre, was told that Mr Scholey, a painter and decorator from Abbots Road, Lundwood, Barnsley, had passed his driving test in September 2007.

He had then started driving the Peugeot to which his grandmother had been entitled under the Government's Motability scheme, taking her on trips during the day and using it himself at night.

Mr Scholey's family members, including his brother Shane and sister Michaela, told the inquest their brother had been a safe driver despite his inexperience and said he never drank alcohol.

Specialist accident investigator Pc David Marley of South Yorkshire Police said it had been very difficult to piece together what had caused the crash in the early hours of November 14 last year.

He added: "No marks were evident on the road leading up to the farm gate and no marks were evident which point to the presence of another vehicle on the road at the time of the incident.

"The very first marks were on the verge close to where the car hit the wall and those marks suggested that the car had been upside down. The crash must have been caused by a very harsh steering movement.

"But there is no obvious explanation as to why. It is possible that the driver may have been trying to avoid an animal in the road."

Pc Marley said it was "nearly impossible" to gauge the speed at which the car had been going because of the lack of marks, but said it "was not a 20mph to 30mph incident". A drugs and alcohol test on Mr Scholey was returned negative.

Families of all three teenagers were present at the hearing, and Miss Goulding's mother Karen Butterworth, of Greenwood Avenue, Worsborugh Dale, said her daughter was sadly missed.

Miss Cooper's mother Dawn, who lives in the Kendray area of Barnsley, said she had "begged" her daughter to come home earlier on the night of the crash and last saw her when she asked for money for cigarettes.

The results of post-mortem examinations on the three teenagers showed that the two girls died from fractured skulls caused by the impact when the car hit the wall backwards.

Mr Scholey died after the force of the impact on the rear of the car tore one of the main blood vessels in his heart, causing a massive internal bleed into his body.

The court was told that the car had been equipped with air bags, but they had not deployed because the car had struck the wall back-end first.

Recording a verdict of accidental death on all three victims, Sheffield's deputy coroner Judith Naylor said: "Perhaps Michael overreacted to the presence of an animal in the road.

"All the families have my deepest sympathies. These were young people with hopes and aspirations but sadly and tragically they died."