A TEENAGE driver tried to resuscitate a pedestrian who stepped into the path of his car, an inquest heard.

The newly-qualified 17-year-old first-aider did not realise that his car had hit two people, one of whom died.

And the coroner congratulated the people of Swanage who came out to help paramedics, contrasting their actions with a "nasty" incident in Blandford where people attacked ambulance crew.

Linda Elford, 43, of Bonfields Avenue, Swanage, and her husband Steve were crossing Shore Road to a restaurant when an F-registered Citroen hit them.

They were both lifted on to the bonnet, smashing the windscreen.

Mrs Elford went over the car and her husband fell in front of it as the driver braked furiously.

She was airlifted to hospital but pronounced dead on arrival. Her seriously injured husband survived.

Eyewitness Stuart Page of the White Swan pub told the coroner he saw two people step out from behind a high-sided vehicle into the path of the Citroen.

"I heard the collision - I saw one of the pedestrians go over the car and one go a little way in front," he said.

"The driver got out of the car and was looking at the gent in front of his car.

"By the time I got there he was looking for a pulse and said he would give CPR cardio-pulmonary resuscitation.

"I went to look at the woman - I saw she was in a bad, bad state."

The driver could not have done anything to avoid the couple, he added.

Driver Wayne Harrison of Hoborne Road, Swanage, said: "I realised he wasn't breathing, I administered CPR - I had completed my first-aid course the day before.

"This is when I realised there was another injured person."

PC Gary Narraway said he had found Mr Harrison extremely shocked, pale and trembling, with Mr Elford's blood on his hands.

Three or four youths had come to the aid of the ambulance crew, he added.

Recording a verdict of accidental death, West Dorset coroner Michael Johnston said Mrs Elford died from multiple injuries.

He extended his sympathy to her family and to Mr Harrison.

"I can't imagine anything worse than having this happen to you," he said.

Mr Johnston also congratulated the people of Swanage for helping the paramedics.

"There was a very nasty scene at Blandford recently when a lot of people were running around trying to attack the ambulance crew," he added.