A DRIVER who knocked down and killed a teenager was talking on his phone when the accident happened, an inquest heard.

And the tragedy of Luke Hudson's death prompted an urgent warning about mobile phones from a coroner.

Roger Whittaker recorded the cause of Luke's death as accidental after hearing how he ran into the road.

He said: "This was a particularly tragic death.

"Although it will not be of much comfort to the family the pathologist's report confirms Luke died almost instantly.

"Although on this occasion it would not have made a difference, this is still a stark warning to people that they should not use a mobile phone while they are driving."

Luke, 14, from Hall Cross Road, Lowerhouses, was killed when Aftab Iqbal's BMW X5 was in collision with him in Leeds Road, Bradley, at 6.25pm on February 20.

Luke, a pupil at Almondbury High School, had been to Marstons' takeaway and was returning to his grandparents' home in Leeds Road when he ran into the carriageway and was killed.

The inquest at Huddersfield Coroner's Court heard how Mr Iqbal, from Toller Lane, in Bradford, had been on his mobile phone at the time but investigators believed he could not have reacted in time.

John Green, a member of the accident investigation team with Wakefield Police, said: "The total reaction time to stop would have been about 3.3 seconds but from Luke leaving the pavement to coming into contact with the car would have only taken about half a second."

In a statement read out in court witness Nicola Harder, of Woodhouse Hill, Huddersfield, described how she desperately tried to save the boy.

"I had been the first car at the lights and then joined a line of vehicles past the lights," she said.

"Just past Marstons' I saw a young boy running on the grassed area next to the road. He ran out into the road.

"I went to the boy and gave him mouth to mouth, I carried on until the police and ambulances came."

Pc Mark Senior interviewed Mr Iqbal at the scene and on three other occasions after the accident.

At first Mr Iqbal denied he had been talking on the mobile phone.

"At the scene Mr Iqbal denied he had been using the phone," he said.

"Later he admitted he had been on the hand-held mobile at the time of the accident and technical analysis of the phone also proved this."

Pathologist Dr George Thomas confirm the physical cause of death as a fracture at the base of the skull which severely damaged the spinal cord.