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An inquest heard how a Cradley Heath student died in a tragic accident after he lost control of his motor bike at the Merry Hill centre.

Andrew Green, aged 17, from Norwood Avenue died after he was speed testing his Suzuki 600cc motorbike with a group of friends on a car park at the Merry Hill centre on Friday May 18 2007.

Dudley Coroners' Court heard how Andrew Green and friend Michael Webb Craddock were testing the acceleration of their bikes to discover which one was quicker when Andrew lost control causing him and the bike to skid down the car park.

Pc Andrew Salt, who specialises in collision investigation and construction, had studied CCTV and evidence at the scene of the crash to piece together what happened on the fatal night.

Pc Salt said: "It was immediately apparent the bike has slid on its side down the car park.

"It was extremely damaged."

Pc Salt told the court how he discovered the bike in third gear and how the bike did not have the restrictions required by law applied to it - which would result in it being faster.

He explained how Andrew and his bike had skidded for 17 metres before it hit the kerb causing Andrew to be projected from his bike and thrown through the air.

He estimated Andrew would have been travelling at around 59mph.

Andrew's friend Michael Webb-Craddock from Stourbridge, who was racing with Andrew on the night on the crash, said the group of friends all studied the same course at Halesowen College.

He said: "We hung around the area once or twice a week.

"It was quite entertaining to watch the other vehicles go past."

Michael added he had not seen Andrew lose control as he was concentrating on his own bike at the time of the accident but when he realised what had happened he had immediately stopped and run over to him.

Sitting on Wednesday March 26, Black Country coroner Robin Balmain read out part of the pathologist report which said the medical cause of death was blunt force injuries particularly to the liver and lungs.

Robin Balmain recorded the death as an accident.

He said: "It is quite clear due to a lot of evidence that Andrew lost control.

"It seems to me the factors involved are firstly the speed and that Andrew was not particularly an experienced rider. These contributing factors led to Andrew falling off his bike."

Speaking after the court Pc Andrew Salt said due to Andrew's accident the Merry Hill centre had amended the car park and the kerb lines to try to prevent the same accident happening again.

3:08pm Friday 28th March 2008

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