The death of a Bridport teenager from pneumonia could have been prevented had Cambodian authorities bothered to look in his bag for his insurance documents in which entitled him to proper medical care, an inquest heard.

Backpacker Kit Mallinson, 18, from Bridport, was found unresponsive in his seat on a night bus at the end of a 12 hour journey after a severe chest infection caused him to suffer breathing problems.

The bus driver summoned an ambulance but medics refused to take the gap year student without his medical insurance documents.

The papers were in his bag but no one looked for them so tourist police took the sick teenager to a local hospital which had limited equipment and medication.

Although the police took his passport, they did not inform the British Embassy until the following day and there was a 36 hour delay in Mr Mallinson getting transferred to a private hospital where he could get the right treatment.

His parents, Guy and Serena Mallinson, raced from their home in Bridport to their son's bedside in Cambodia but arrived to be told he had died on December 14 last year.

At an inquest in Bournemouth a pathologist said she felt the delay in appropriate medical treatment contributed to his death. She added that pneumonia would not kill an 18-year-old man unless there was a delay in treatment.

Mr Mallinson's parents slammed the Cambodian authorities for failing to get him the basic help he was entitled to.

Mrs Mallinson said: "Kit was meant to be having the adventure of a lifetime, he was meant to be home for Christmas and we are just completely devastated.

"He should be at university now and we feel he was let down very badly by the Cambodian authorities.

"It's incredibly hard not being able to hold them accountable in any way.

"We feel if they had done their job properly, Kit would still be with us."

The teenager had gained a place at the Kingston School of Art and Design at Kingston University in Surrey but had taken a gap year travelling around south east Asia.

He volunteered for Raleigh International in Borneo where he helped lay pipework to supple clean water to a remote community in Kalampan.

Mr Mallinson, whose father Guy is an accomplished furniture maker who has appeared on BBC Two's Mastercrafts hosted by Monty Don, had told his parents he had made lots of new friends.

He headed to Cambodia on his own to travel on November 22 last year and developed the chest infection afterwards.

The bus journey he took had a stopover in the capital Phnom Penh, where Mr Mallinson spoke to the driver and appeared fine, the inquest heard.

But when the bus arrived in Siem Reap early in the morning on December he was found in an unresponsive state.

Sleeping tablets and codeine were found in his bags, which his family assume were to get through the long journey and help his chesty cough.

At the first hospital he went to he regained consciousness but later deteriorated and died in the early hours of December 14, just six hours after he had been moved to the private Royal Angkor hospital.

A report by the Cambodian authorities into his death was 'full of errors' and stated his death was due to acute respiratory inflammation caused by overdose of cannabis and morphine.

Mr Mallinson's parents carried out their own investigation into what happened to him.

Dr Benita Foria, who carried out a post mortem examination after his body was brought back to the UK, said the cannabis levels were consistent with recreational use.

She said Mr Mallinson died of respiratory failure caused by acute respiratory distress syndrome, florid broncho-pneumonia (a severe chest infection), and moderate to severe benzodiazapine toxicity used with therapeutic levels of codeine medication.

She said: "The sleeping tablets Kit had taken further worsened the respiratory function caused by the pneumonia.

"You would not expect pneumonia to kill in someone of such a young age and good health if it was detected and treated at an early stage.

"I believe it is probable that had he got to the hospital with appropriate treatment sooner he would have survived."

Mrs Mallinson said: "For reasons we just can't understand the British Embassy were not alerted to Kit's whereabouts for most of two days.

"The tourist police are trained that if they find a foreign national in a bad way the first thing they should do is contact the embassy.

"They had his passport. If they had rung the embassy straight away, we could have got him to decent medical care straight away.

"We've been met with a brick wall by the Cambodian authorities.

"They are refusing to acknowledge that they neglected to tell the embassy."

Rachael Griffin, the Dorset corner, recorded a narrative verdict.

She said: "Kit died as a consequence of a combination of naturally occurring disease and the effects of medication in circumstances where there was a delay in him receiving the necessary medical treatment.

"I have heard evidence from Dr Foria that on the balance of probabilities the delay in treatment was probably contributory to his death and had he received earlier treatment he would have been given the best chance of survival."

Since his death the Mallinsons have set up a fundraising page for Raleigh International, raising almost £24,000.

In a statement they said: "Kit was quite simply a diamond. His joy for life, infectious laugh and ability to put everyone around him at ease was a rare gift.

"He had a bright future ahead of him, he had gained a place at the highly competitive Kingston School of Art and Design."

A memorial service held for Mr Mallinson was attended by 700 people, He was a member of the Hyde Real tennis club near Bridport which have set up the Kit Mallinson Doubles in memory of him.