The driver of the car in which teenager Max Lewis died told police he wasn't driving too fast on the day of the smash.

And Dan Palmer said his best mate, who died at the scene of the crash on a country road between Lacock and Melksham, even commented on how slow he was going.

The 23-year-old told officers, "I was driving ridiculously slow that day: ridiculously slow," when he was questioned after he had been released from hospital.

He said he had picked up 19-year-old Max in his orange Citroen Saxo from his home in Seend on Saturday, November 15, and they first went to Devizes.

Palmer said he was due to take part in a quad bike race on Weymouth beach the following day and needed to get some new goggles from a shop in Devizes.

After that he said they contacted some mates and met up with them in Melksham then drove up to Lacock to hang out.

He said Connor Forester, 19, then left the car park in his black Citroen Saxo and he moved off about 90 seconds later to head back down Forest Lane.

Palmer said they were not in convoy and the last he saw of their Saxo was when he spotted it up ahead, behind Julian Drew's car, waiting at a narrow bridge on the edge of Lacock.

As he was going down the country lane he said he was careful of his speed as he knew there were riding schools there and children were often on horseback on the road.

After overtaking a very slow moving car on a long straight section he said he came to a bend where a horsebox was coming the other way.

He said the lorry-type vehicle was on his side of the road and he had to swerve on to the verge to avoid hitting it.

As a result he said he then bounced back into the carriageway and, despite his braking, the van behind the horsebox hit his car.

"I have come pretty much to a standstill before I was hit," he told officers during the interview under caution.

He said: "I was not driving fast at all that whole day. Even Max came round and said to me, I'm not speaking for him, even Max said to me on three occasions 'Why are you driving so slow'. I didn't answer him."

And later he repeated: "If anything I was driving 20mph, well 10mph, slower than I usually drive. I was in a relaxed state of mind.

"I drove from Melksham to Devizes slow, I drove from Devizes slow. It was just one of those things."

It is alleged that he was the third in a line of cars which were being racing along the road by the three Melksham men with Drew, 26, at the head, and Forester in the middle.

Drew, of Littlejohn Avenue, Forester, of Meadow Road, and Palmer, of Bowmans Court, deny death by dangerous driving.

Drew and Forester also deny alternative counts of dangerous driving. Palmer admits death by careless driving.

The case continues.