A MOTORCYCLIST died after he lost control going around a bend and hit a lamp post, an inquest heard yesterday.

Gwent Coroner’s Court, sitting in Newport, heard that Alan John Woodland, 45, from Crumlin, was on his way to work at a battery factory in Ebbw Vale, travelling northbound along the A467 on July 14 this year when he overtook a blue Ford Mondeo.

The driver of the Mondeo, Matthew Went, said in a statement that the motorcycle overtook him at around 75mph, when weather conditions were dry with good visibility and hardly any traffic on the road, shortly before 6am.

The motorcyclist approached a bend near Llanhilleth Industrial Estate, but appeared to have difficulty getting back on to the correct side of the road, Mr Went said.

Mr Went travelled around the bend three or four seconds afterwards and saw the motorcycle sliding across the road.

He stopped his car and could see the rider lying on the left-hand side of the road on a grass verge near a lamp-post and his helmet was off, and broken, Mr Went said. He flagged down a passing car and another vehicle stopped. Following instructions from emergency services over the phone, Mr Went and the other people turned the rider onto his back a person gave him CPR before ambulance staff arrived and took over.

PC Christopher Goddard, of the Gwent Police Forensic Collision Investigation Unit, said that after negotiating the bend, the motorcycle had hit the near-side kerb and the rider had come off, hitting a lamp post and then a road sign at least 50mph. There was nothing to indicate what had caused the rider to lose control, he said.

A post mortem examination by Dr James Harrison, consultant pathologist at the Royal Gwent Hospital, said Mr Woodland died of severe spinal and brain injuries. He said 50 microgrammes of alcohol had been found in his blood, which is below the 80mg limit.

Coroner David Bowen said it is likely Mr Woodland died instantly.

A verdict of accidental death was recorded.