10:00am Thursday 18th March 2010
A coroner has called on highway chiefs to put up more warning signs on a dangerous Cotswolds road bend where a talented TV picture editor died in a motorcycle accident.
Wayne Southern, of Winterbourne Road, Swindon, was just 29 when he lost control of his powerful Honda bike while out on a social ride with four friends, and collided with a car travelling in the opposite direction near Cirencester.
After an accidental death verdict was recorded at his inquest in Gloucester yesterday, his parents Pete and Rose Southern said: “Never a day goes by when we do not miss our lovely son Wayne.
“No parent should have to outlive their own child and no words can express how much we miss him and how much we hope and pray he will one day walk back in through our door – even though we know that will never happen.
“We cannot begin to express what a loving, charming, funny and kind man he was. He was a never-ending source of pride to us, his sister and to all our family and friends.
“He made us laugh and he made us feel loved. Today he should have counting the days until his wedding to his fiancee Claire.
“We would like to express our thanks to the police and the Coroner and his team and also all the emergency services who attended the accident.
“We came here today hoping for answers but the one answer we really want we will never know – why our son had to leave us – why he had to have that terrible accident.
“Finally, we would like to ask all motorcycle riders to think about Wayne, to think about what happened to him and to take just that little bit of extra care.
“We don’t want your parents to have to stand where we stand now.”
Former colleague from Central News Simon Garrett said: “Ours is a business that can be quite bitchy but Wayne was one of those rare people everybody loved.
“He was also an outstandingly talented young man - one of the best picture editors making TV programmes in Britain at the time of his death.
“He had worked on numerous programmes for Sky and the BBC as well as for ITV and he was enormously popular with everyone, charming and funny. He is greatly missed by all who knew him.”
Gloucestershire Coroner Alan Crickmore heard that Mr Southern had passed his motorcycle test only a few months before his death but was said to have been a natural rider.
On the day he died, May 4th 2009, he and his four friends had met near Swindon and were riding to Chipping Norton, travelling north along the A435 near North Cerney, just outside Cirencester.
Mr Southern lost control of his Honda CBR600 on a sharp bend and collided with a Volvo estate being driven in the opposite direction by Sally Anne Hardwicke.
Accident investigator Pc Simon Edwards said from marks on the road surface, it appeared that Mr Southern had braked too hard in the bend and the front wheel of his bike had skidded so that it fell onto its side and slid across into the opposite carriageway.
He had been riding at about 50 miles an hour, within the speed limit, Pc Edwards said but the car was doing the same speed and so their approach speed had been about 100 miles an hour.
He added that the bikers had been riding too close together so that when Mr Southern crashed, two of the others also became involved.
Mr Crickmore was told that Mr Southern died from multiple injuries and no alcohol or drugs was found in his system.
Summing up, he said it seemed likely that Mr Southern had been confronted by a bend that was sharper than he was expecting and if the warning signs had been better, he may have ridden differently.
Recording a verdict of accidental death, he said in his opinion, there were insufficient warning signs on the approach to the bend and he would send a report to the Highways Authority saying more should be put up.
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