A DUDLEY motorcyclist made a rider error which caused him to be thrown from his bike and land head first into a metal post, an inquest heard.

Allan Wright, of Rosalind Avenue, had overtaken a lorry and two cars when he clipped a kerb and crashed into a roundabout island on A456 Bewdley bypass, near Wharton Park Golf Club, at around 11.30am on June 9 this year.

He was pronounced dead at the scene.

A hearing at Worcestershire Coroner’s Court in Stourport on Thursday concluded that the 63-year-old maintenance worker died as a result of an accident.

Coroner Geraint Williams said a post mortem report showed that the father-of-two had suffered fatal head injuries. Toxicology reports showed Mr Wright had no alcohol in his system.

HGV driver Malcolm Smith witnessed the crash and described how he saw Mr Wright, who was riding his white Triumph motorbike, go past his lorry and two Audi cars on the right hand side of the busy road.

But when he pulled back over to the left as he approached the roundabout, his back wheel clipped the kerb, resulting in him losing control of the machine. He then crashed into the roundabout island, causing Mr Wright to be launched from the bike.

Mr Smith said: “When he hit the roundabout, I saw the bike flying through the air and Allan came down and landed on his head.

“I got out of my lorry and rushed to where Allan was. Another lady had got out of her car and was holding his hand.

“I looked at his injuries and knew then that it was fatal. I stayed with him all the time and then paramedics and the air ambulance arrived.

“His wife then arrived on her bike and his son came a little later and he was distraught as you can imagine.”

Mr Smith added that he estimated Mr Wright had been travelling at around 30mph and that visibility and road conditions were good.

Collision investigator PC Jonathan Rice confirmed that there were no defects with the motorcycle.

After assessing tyre marks at various points in the road, he estimated that Mr Wright would have been travelling at around 26mph.

He said: “When I arrived at the scene, the motorcycle and Mr Wright were still in the carriageway.

“The bike was in fifth gear and the most obvious tyre marks were on a kerb edge on the approach to the roundabout.

“On the island there are road signs and there was fragments of the helmet at the base of the metal post of one of these. This led me to believe that the helmet had struck the post.

“Unfortunately, I believe Mr Wright has made a rider error. He seemed to be unprepared for the roundabout when he clipped the kerb.”