A punctured tyre caused an 18-year-old to crash his motorcycle in Kings Langley in March, an inquest heard today.

University of Hertfordshire student Antony Bonito, crashed his red Aprilla 125cc motorbike near the Premier Inn, in Hempstead Road, Kings Langley.

An ambulance was called at 4.10pm, and the former Kings Langley First and Secondary school student was taken to

target="_blank">Watford General Hospital where an injury to his liver proved fatal.

Coroner Edward Thomas said: “The extent of his injury was such that, no matter what was done, no-one could have saved him.”

Parents Jackie and Bart, and younger brother Mark, from Kings Langley, have described Antony as a beautiful son who was willing to help anyone, including strangers.

Passionate about music, Antony had recently bought a guitar and was learning how to play it. He loved sport, particularly football, and had trials for Millwall when he was younger.

He was in his first year of a product design course at the University of Hertfordshire but had found it hard to settle after two set-backs, his laptop being stolen and a broken wrist.

On May 23, he had driven to the doctor after suffering from poor sleep, anxiety and nausea.

Dr Nicholas Hillier, the GP who saw him that day, said: “He was stressed about his studies, he felt he was struggling at university, overwhelmed by the workload at that point.

“I diagnosed him with mild to moderate depression, without risk to himself or anyone else. I prescribed him an antidepressant and hoped to follow him up over a period of time and see an improvement.”

It was on the way back from his 3.20pm appointment that Antony lost control of his motorcycle in Hempstead Road.

Martin Throsby was meeting someone to buy a car at the nearby Premier Inn at 4pm, and was waiting in the car park opposite Hempstead Road when he heard a strange noise.

He said: “It sounded like high intermittent revving of a motorbike, I then saw a motorcyclist fishtailing along the road, he had lost grip to the rear wheel.

“Eventually, a couple of seconds later, the back wheel gripped, but not in a straight line, and he was 'high-sided' and thrown off.”

Mr Throsby, a scuba diver trained in underwater rescue, dialled 999 and ran to where Antony lay, two shopkeepers from Taylors Tools were also at the scene, and an ambulance arrived shortly after.

Forensic collision investigator, Alan McManus, said: “There was a nail in the rear tyre, it had penetrated deeply and been there for some time, as the nail head was very worn.

“The effect of this on a motorbike is quite significant, tyres play a part in cornering and handling and the under-inflated tyre would have been very difficult to control.

“Even an experienced rider faced with that situation would have found it difficult to control.”

PC McManus also confirmed that Antony had been travelling at 42mph, faster than the 30mph speed limit.

He said: “Even at the speed limit, with that tyre, we might still be here today - 30mph is still a significant speed on a motorcycle with a flat tyre.”

A Facebook group has been set up by best friend Alex Michaelides to commemorate Antony's life and attracted more than 1,000 members.

Bart Bonito, Antony's father, said: “Antony was a natural athlete and a fantastic person, the Facebook tribute page is a testament to the kind of person he was.

“I'm a motorcyclist as well and if there is something we can do to prevent this happening again. Youngsters need to look after their tyres, it's a busy world but on a motorbike you can't get away with it.”