AN EXPERIENCED motorcyclist died after colliding with a tractor as he emerged from a sharp bend on a country lane.

Gavin Hardy, who was thrown from his Honda CBR900, suffered serious head injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene.

The collision took place on Nettlebed Lane, Toft Hill, at about 5pm on Sunday, July 13 as the 32-year-old father-of-one was returning to his Bishop Auckland home, following a ride-out with two friends.

Tractor driver, Philip Langstaff, told coroner, Andrew Tweddle, he had been leading hay between two farms when two motorbikes came round a sharp bend from the opposite direction.

They passed him and, although he anticipated more, he was unable to see Mr Hardy who collided with the outside of his tractor’s front tyre.

Mr Longstaff said: “I was just about stopped and I had pulled right on to the side. There was no time to do anything.”

Mr Hardy’s father, David, questioned why Mr Longstaff did not stop but PC Robin Turner, of the road traffic investigation unit, said the view round the bend was obscured by bushes and trees and that the tractor would have taken up most of the lane.

“In effect it’s a blind bend,” he said. “We know the two would not have come together if the motorbike had been on the right side of the road.”

Mr Tweddle heard it was common for riders to take a bend wide to increase their angle of view ahead.

PC Turner added: “For this particular bend I would come to the incorrect side of the road to have a view point but you have to take everything to its merit and you still need to be able to get back on to your side of the road.”

The Crook inquest heard it was not known what speed Mr Hardy was doing but he was described as an experienced biker who had taken an advanced drivers course. No traces of alcohol or drugs were found in his system.

Mr Tweddle concluded it had been a tragic accident.

“It appears to me that Gavin got it wrong on this corner,” he said. “Every now and again an accident occurs and that’s all this was, it was an accident and I don’t say that in any way to trivialise it but on the other hand Mr Longstaff was driving his tractor doing nothing wrong.”