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Riley Ketley suffered serious head injuries in the collision with a car when he was cycling on Woodhall Way, Beverley, on the evening of April 8, after a group of youngsters had been out socialising in a nearby park.

An inquest was told that the Longcroft School in Beverley pupil been due to join the elite fighting force in November. In a statement read to the court his father Paul said: "This made us very proud of what he had achieved. Riley was proud too."

The inquest in Hull was told that the teenager liked to help people. He was growing his hair to raise money for Hull's neonatal intensive care unit in memory of two of his cousins when the accident happened.

On one occasion he’d got to school an hour late because he was helping a woman who’d had a flat tyre.

A friend who was riding behind Riley told investigators that as they cycled towards the shops, Riley drew level with some girls on the other side of the road.

The youngster pulled out into the middle of the road and a Honda Civic, which had been behind them, "sped up as if overtaking" and the collision occurred.

Despite the efforts of people at the scene to to give him CPR, and those of police officers and medics, Riley died in the early hours of April 9 at Hull Royal Infirmary.

The driver voluntarily attended Clough Road police station in June. Yesterday he told the court he felt "absolutely terrible" about what had happened and expressed his “heartfelt sympathy” to Riley’s family.

He said he'd moved to the right to give the youngsters as wide a berth as possible. He said they’d had seen him and moved into the cycle lane, when Riley pulled out. He said: "There was absolutely no warning at all and I had no chance to stop and avoid a collision.”

Following extensive inquiries the police felt there was insufficient evidence to charge the driver.

Forensic collision investigator Paul Gallagher said there was no evidence of excessive speed. The driver had swerved, but with only one to two seconds in which to react “he couldn’t stop or get out of the way.

“It’s just unavoidable.”

Assistant coroner Sally Robinson concluded that Riley, who wasn't wearing a helmet, had died as the result of a road traffic collision.

Mr Gallagher calculated that the driver had been travelling around the speed limit of 30mph and accelerated up to that limit to get past the cyclists.

Mrs Robinson said no one knew whether it was a misjudgment of speed when Riley saw the car or whether he was distracted momentarily and didn't realise he didn't have enough time to get across the road.

She said: "We don't know why this happened, why Riley turned his bike when he did, because it all happened so quickly. Similarly I don't want to blame Riley or (the driver). It has been two vehicles coming together effectively."

The court was told that Riley's younger sister had given talks at school about wearing helmets and they’d been handed out to students.