A teenage boy from Buckinghamshire ‘wouldn’t have known what happened’ during a car crash which resulted in his tragic death, an inquest heard today.

Edward Robert Lester Bush, 16, from Turville Heath near Buckinghamshire, passed away in the early evening of June 4, 2021, 14 hours after he and two friends, also 16, were struck by an Audi Q3 on the A82 at Kirkton, near Lochend, Scotland.

His two friends, both girls, also suffered injuries although ‘one more seriously than the other’.

Edward’s inquest was held at Beaconsfield Coroner’s Court on February 1, 2024, more than two-and-a-half-years since the tragic accident, as Coroner Crispin Butler, revealed that the ‘much-loved teen along with his friends had planned to go for a swim in a nearby lock'.

As they crossed the road, a car collided with the group with Edward being struck near the vehicle’s headlights.

The emergency services were called and closed the road for six hours as Edward was taken to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness, where he sadly died.

Mr Butler believes that the former Stowe School student would have ‘passed over the top of the vehicle’ leading to him suffering a ‘significant’ head injury.

The coroner also said that the incident happened on a national speed limit road, and that the Audi driver ‘was not driving in excess of 60mph’.

Mr Butler confirmed that parts of the A82 had a lack of signage, warning drivers of certain bends at junctions.

Mr Butler told the court: “It is clear that from the way that Edward was struck, he was not going to survive the moment he was hit by the car.

“There were no weather or road conditions as it was during a summer’s day in Scotland.

 “He suffered grave and fatal injuries – almost instant as they made him unconscious.

 “I believe he wouldn’t have known what had happened.”

He described his passing as a ‘tragedy for his family and friends’, and that he wished his parents, Annabel and Jonathan, and brother, Harry, all the best with their futures.

Jonathan responded by thanking Mr Butler for all his help, after an inquest into Edward’s death was adjourned in February 2023 due to the coroner needing more evidence.

All three, along with an undisclosed friend of the family were present.

Edward was the grandson of late Conservative Tory MP Lord Spicer, who died in 2019.