THE mother of a teenager killed in a car crash has warned her daughter’s friends about the dangers they face on the roads as drivers and passengers.

Sue Parker’s daughter Natalie Rondeau should have celebrated her 18th birthday this month.

But she died at just 14 as a rear seat passenger in a car driven by a teenager which ploughed into a tree in King’s Park, Bournemouth, in November 2005.

David Thomas, then aged 19, was jailed for 18 months after admitting causing death by dangerous driving.

Brave Sue has now joined forces with the Dorset Safety Camera Partnership’s Dying To Drive? campaign to alert sixth formers across the county to the risks involved with driving.

And she visited St Peter’s School in Southbourne, where Natalie was a pupil, to address students, many in the same year group as her daughter.

She told them of the horror of being told Natalie was dead and added: “When I had gone to bed that night I didn’t know she was dying in the back of a car – Natalie was just trying to get a lift home.”

She described the events as “every mother’s worst nightmare” and told how David Thomas has since been in touch to convey his sorrow and guilt about what happened.

“He is a nice lad actually – he didn’t set out to kill Natalie that night. He has to live with that.”

Student India West, 17, a friend of Natalie’s, told the Daily Echo: “We’re all learning to drive now. “What happened to Natalie was so devastating for all of us it’s important for people to know realistically what could happen.

“A lot of people think it’s never going to happen to them but when it happens to someone close to you it makes you realise it can happen to anyone.”

India was speaking after a hard-hitting presentation from the partnership where dangers including speeding, drink driving, failure to wear a seat belt and driving while using a mobile phone were graphically illustrated.

Students were shown pictures of real injuries and a life-like training exercise depicting the aftermath of a car crash.