A MOTORCYCLIST was driving at between 85mph and 120mph on a 60mph road before colliding with a tractor, an inquest heard yesterday.

Stephen Anthony Hudson, 41, died on August 18, after his Yamaha 1000cc motorbike collided with a tractor and its trailer on the A48 near Crick, Monmouthshire.

The collision happened when the tractor was coming out of the entrance to Bentley Green Farm.

Mr Hudson was on his way home from working as a carpenter at Uskmouth Power Station and died from multiple injuries.

The inquest at Newport coroner's court heard how Mr Hudson was an experienced motorcyclist and was normally a steady and careful driver.

Adrian Derek Roderick was driving his BMW along the A48 towards Newport and after passing the tractor safely saw “a fast moving object” coming towards him and travelling at some speed.

He said: “This was significantly more than the speed limit. It went past me in a bit of a blur.”

He looked back at the hill in his mirror to see smoke coming off the motorbike’s tyres and saw the bike quickly strike the tractor’s trailer.

PC Dean Burnett found the tractor and empty trailer lying half way across the carriageway.

He said the tractor driver Nigel Bartlett, had intended to turn right.

PC Burnett said Mr Hudson, from Cinderford, was close to stopping before the collision and said he could have stopped if he reacted just two seconds earlier. He also confirmed no defects were found on the bike.

Mr Bartlett said in police interview that he looked down the road in both directions and found it to be clear and quickly double checked before starting to move.

He told police: “I don’t believe my driving was dangerous. I did everything I could."

Gwent coroner David Bowen said a number of witnesses estimated Mr Hudson to have been travelling at speeds of between 85mph and 120mph.

He said: “Whatever that speed was, it was in my view too high.”

He recorded a verdict of misadventure.