A woman seriously injured in a car crash that killed two of her friends has been awarded £85,000 in compensation by the High Court in London.

Sophie Palmer, now 21, claimed more than £400,000 in damages after suffering fractured ribs, a collapsed lung and debilitating internal injuries.

But a judge was unconvinced that she would have reached her dream of becoming a qualified midwife without the collision in October 2004.

Mrs Palmer, the wife of an RAF Regiment gunner, had been travelling home to Wallington with friends after a night out in Croydon.

The Ford Fiesta in which she was a passenger careered off the road in Chaldon, Surrey, flattening a telegraph pole and smashing into a tree.

Her friend, Lucie Hampson, 16, from Purley, died in the wreckage with her 19-year-old boyfriend Jamie Clayton.

Judge Richard Seymour QC awarded a sum of £85,715 against the driver Christopher Kitley, whose insurers accepted liability while disputing the value of the claim.

Mrs Palmer won just £30,000 for loss of future earnings, less than a tenth of her original claim. Judge Seymour also reduced her damages claim for “pain, suffering and loss of amenity” by 15 per cent because she was not wearing a seatbelt.

He told the court: “I have to say that I was not impressed by Mrs Palmer as a witness. Her answers seemed to me to be conditioned by what she believed would enhance her award.”

Afterwards Judge Seymour was told that his compensation award was less than a pre-trial offer made by Mr Kitley's insurers to settle the claim. As a result, Mrs Palmer is likely to be heavily penalised with legal costs.