AN RAF veteran was run over by another biker ‘within seconds’ of hitting a van on the A420 and coming off his motorcycle, an inquest heard yesterday.

Mike Dobbin, of West Street, Shipston-on-Stour, Warwickshire, died from severe chest injuries following the collision, which took place just before the Botley Interchange on September 22 last year.

At an inquest at Oxford Coroner's Court into the 72-year-old’s death, a statement from biker Jason Crowe said he and Mr Dobbin had been returning from the funeral of a fellow Royal British Legion member, heading eastbound on their motorbikes towards Oxford.

He said he was following his friend as they approached the interchange at about 4.30pm in the left lane when Mr Dobbin started to brake, stopped and then broke again as traffic slowed.

It was at this point the former RAF sergeant hit a stationary white van and was thrown from his red and white Honda motorbike into the inside lane.

This threw him directly into the path of Andras Farago, who was riding home from work on his Yamaha motorcycle. In a statement read out in court, skip lorry driver Mr Farago said: “It happened within seconds.

"There was nothing I could do to avoid the collision. I fell onto my back and was scraped along the road.”

The air ambulance, two road ambulances and three rapid response vehicles attended after the incident but Mr Dobbin was pronounced dead at the scene.

Collisions investigator David Watson, showing a diagram of marks found when he visited the scene just over an hour after the crash, said what he found matched witness accounts.

He said: “The evidence suggests the initial crash was a low impact collision. It is likely he misjudged his proximity to the van or attempted to go around it.

“It is possible he changed his mind when he saw the other bike approaching in the right lane.”

Mr Watson added the evidence also showed Mr Farago was within the speed limit, likely going between 34 and 48mph, and there was no way he could have braked in time to avoid hitting the other biker.

Oxfordshire Assistant Coroner Nicholas Graham recorded a conclusion of death by road traffic collision and said he was satisfied the incident was an accident.

Mr Dobbin’s death is one of a number on the road in recent years.

Earlier this month the Oxford Mail revealed the A420 had been named the ‘most dangerous’ road in the south east, with 2.47 crashes per one million vehicle-miles driven.

A freedom of information request to Oxfordshire County Council showed in the past five years, up to August 2017, there were 721 people injured in crashes on the A420 – of which 10 were fatal.

In December, an 85-year-old man died as a result of crash between a car and two lorries in Faringdon.