Jane Evason's son Gareth died after he was knocked down by a drunk driver on the way back from a night out with his friends.

It did not make her loss any easier to bear that the driver who mowed the 19-year-old down was one of the young friends he had spent the night having fun with.

"It makes it worse to see him going on with his life now as Gareth should have done," said Jane, of Wantage, Oxfordshire.

For our family, Gareth will always be missing

Gareth's friend was jailed for four years and served two.

Now 22, he is at university and getting on with his life.

"I'm not saying he wasn't affected by what happened, but he can put it behind him.

"For our family, Gareth will always be missing."

Jane says the effect of Gareth's death was compounded by it being so "senseless".

'Hard to live with'

"It's something many relatives of people who have been killed by drunk drivers have said to me," said Jane.

"Basically Gareth died because his friend couldn't be bothered to get a taxi.

When he died I felt like I'd been ripped apart

"He must have known when he got in that car he couldn't see properly. That is difficult to live with."

Gareth was killed by the impact of the car in May 1998.

A strapping 6ft2ins, he was doing a course in leisure and tourism with his younger brother Neil.

A keen sportsman, he was planning a gap year snowboarding and travelling in Australia.

Attitude change

"He was a happy-go-lucky character and working in tourism would have suited him down to the ground," said his 45-year-old mother.

"He really was my best friend and when he died I felt like I'd been ripped apart."

Gareth Evason's young life was cut short

Jane and husband Mike want the police to be able to do random and more frequent breath tests and she supports the charity Brake's campaign to lower the drink-drive limit.

But mostly she thinks it is about changing people's attitudes to getting behind the wheel after drinking alcohol.

She plans to take her experience into schools.

"I want to tell teenagers how drink-driving affected me and my family.

"I hope that hearing a mother's point of view will have more impact than hearing the anti drink-drive message from someone in authority."