A "lads holiday" in Greece ended in tragedy when a 19-year-old lost control of the quad-bike he was riding, an inquest heard.

Jack Howe, a sales assistant from Townsend Square, Kings Hill , had travelled to the island of Zante, with 10 friends in June. On their first day there, eight of the party, including Jack, had hired quad bikes to tour the island and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Later, on June 21, Jack and two friends decided to take the quad bikes out again to visit a remote cove to go swimming.

They were riding in single file with Jack, a former Mascalls Academy student, in the middle and were only a few hundred yards from the cove, when he lost control and crashed into a tree.

In a statement read to the inquest, one of the friends, identified only as Ollie, said he was travelling behind Jack and had seen his quad bike's wheels lose traction on the rough, twisting lane.

He said that straight away he could tell that Jack was in a bad way.

Passersby, including a nurse, stopped to help the boys, but it was 90 minutes before an ambulance arrived.

Ollie said that when they did arrive the ambulance crew "didn't seem to know what they were doing."

He said: "It certainly wasn't the same level of care we are used to in the UK."

The second friend, Marcus Bergham, said the paramedics had great trouble getting Jack onto a stretcher and into the van.

He said one of the crew then "threw up all over the place."

Marcus travelled with Jack in the ambulance to the Agios Dionysios Hospital, which was on the other side of the island. Doctors there attempted CPR on Jack who had become unresponsive, but he was later declared dead.

A post-mortem in Greece determined that he had died of severe chest and abdominal injuries as a result of a road traffic accident. His embalmed body was later flown home to England.

Before the hearing, Jack's family had raised concerns with the coroner about the length of time it had taken the ambulance to arrive and the level of care Jack had received.

But coroner Katrina Hepburn said without knowing the distances or the state of the roads, it was not possible to say whether 90 minutes was an excessive amount of time. In any case, she reminded the court, her role was not to apportion any blame but merely to establish the circumstances of the death, which she found to be the result of a "tragic road traffic collision."

Earlier, in July, Jack's sisters, Hannah and Lucy, set up a Just Giving appeal in his memory and raised £32,670 to help other families who might suffer a similar tragedy abroad and needed help to bring their loved one's body home.

Later, in September, the total was boosted by a charity football match held in the Tottenham fans memory at the Gallagher Stadium in Maidstone and organised by his friends.

The Howe family said at the time: "We’ll remember our lovely son and brother Jack and his energy and passion for life every single day.

"We will do all we can, through #JackTheLad, the charity that we are setting up, and through the fund-raising events we will hold, to prevent accidents such as the one Jack suffered happening to other families

"We’re so grateful to Jack’s amazing group of friends for arranging Friday’s football match as the very first #JackTheLad Fundraising event - and hope as many people as possible will come along and join us to support their teams."

A host of fond memories flooded in on social media with Jack's sisters Hannah and Lucy leading the tributes.

"I would love to have to throw your boxers out the bathroom just one more time, or come and get my phone charger out of your room or you rugby tackling me and throwing me onto my bed (or the floor), giving you advice on whether to shave your beard or not, pluck your eyebrows or even help you fake tan," said Hannah.

"You were a credit to the Howe family, just like everyone is telling us. I promise to make you as proud as possible. You are one in million geez."

Twin sister Lucy added: "No one will ever have the connection we had, I was lucky enough to know you that nine months longer than everyone else.

"You were my other half and I dunno what I’m going to be without you ‘darling’."

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