STAFF at a Bristol nightclub where a 16-year-old boy took a fatal dose of ecstasy tried to cover up the truth about where he had bought the drug, it has been claimed.

An inquest heard door staff at Lakota asked friends of Joe Simons, left, who had bought the Class A drug inside the club, to lie about where he had bought it.

Sixth form student Joe had achieved nine A* grades at GCSE and was planning to apply to Oxford or Cambridge. But the "intelligent and compassionate" teenager from Bitton collapsed after taking an overdose of the drug at a Tribe of Frog dance night in the early hours of May 1 last year. In a coma, he was taken to the intensive care unit at the Bristol Royal Infirmary but could not be saved.

The inquest into his death at Flax Bourton Coroner's Court yesterday heard Joe bought one gram of MDMA – a form of ecstasy – from a dealer inside the Stokes Croft venue after he and his underage friends had been allowed inside without being asked for ID. Shortly after taking it he appeared to stare into the distance, collapsed and turned grey.

In a statement read to the court, Joe's best friend Gabriel Wheatcroft said two or three door staff rushed over to help the teenager and an ambulance was called.

As Joe was being treated by paramedics, Mr Wheatcroft was asked by door staff if the comatose teenager had taken any drugs.

The inquest heard that when told that he had, staff at the Upper York Street venue told Joe's friends to say – if asked – that he had bought the drug earlier at another club.

In his statement, Mr Wheatcroft said he, Joe, who attended Beechen Cliff sixth form, in Bath, and other friends had taken ecstasy at an earlier Tribe of Frog event at Lakota in March last year, again after no age checks were made on the door.

Having researched the drug on the internet, he said the friends thought it would be safe to take and would "add to the whole experience of the event".

Another of Joe's friends, Carl Hall, said: "I'm shocked by what's happened to him. I can't believe he's passed away. This whole incident has made me realise how foolish it is to take drugs."

In a statement, Joe's dad Tom said: "To lose a child is every parent's worse nightmare. It can seem as if the sparkle and magic that is life has been extinguished and will never be rekindled. Coming so soon after the death of his mother, Joe's untimely death has felt to the family as if a tsunami has struck. Rebuilding our lives has seemed to be a task beyond our all-too-frail capacities.

"Joe is in many ways an indictment of our failure as a society to tackle the scourge of drugs."

The inquest heard toxicological tests revealed Joe had 0.98 micrograms of MDMA per litre of his blood after his collapse – five times the "typical recreational dose".

Pathologist Dr Edward Sheffield, who carried out the post mortem examination, concluded Joe died as a result of MDMA toxicity after suffering multiple organ failure.

Recording a verdict of death through non-dependent use of drugs, Mr Moore said: "The sad and unique point about this inquest is the belief by those who take MDMA that it is safe."

Last year, Lakota's management admitted their systems had failed on the night Joe collapsed. The club's licence was temporarily suspended and, in June, the venue's bosses were ordered to meet 61 stringent operating conditions.