The father of a Winklebury man who died after crashing his motorbike into the side of a car has paid tribute to his son.
Jamie Hill, of Sycamore Way, suffered fatal abdominal and chest injuries on November 1 when he failed to brake in time as he travelled along Sherborne Road towards the junction with Oakridge Road.
The 25-year-old’s Yamaha R125 then skidded sideways along the tarmac and into the side of a Nissan that was travelling along the other road and had the right of way, with Mr Hill later being pronounced dead in hospital.
Following the accident, the family’s friends and the motorbike community clubbed together to raise around £2,000 for the popular former Fort Hill Community School pupil’s funeral, with dad Andrew speaking of his pride in his son.
He said: “I’m into my bikes too and would be lying if I said I didn’t worry when he went out riding, just like my mum and dad would have when I was younger.
“The biking community has been fantastic and it means a lot that people have given donations.
“Jamie is like me, he would go out of his way to help anyone, whatever time of day or wherever they were.
“I’m very proud of him for that.”
An inquest into Mr Hill’s death at Basingstoke Law Courts on Monday heard that he had levels of mephedrone in his system at the time of the incident, with attending police officer PC Drew McDonnell pointing to the drugs as a contributing factor.
He said: “There is no evidence to indicate that he was driving over the speed limit at the time of the collision.
“It could have been misjudgement or a distraction for why he braked as late as he did, because in my opinion, the give way lines should have been visible to him.
“The high levels of drugs found in his system must be considered a considerable factor in this incident.”
North East Hampshire Coroner Andrew Bradley ruled that the death was an accident in his verdict, adding: “Clearly he’s been driving along not dramatically fast when the incident has happened – he’s not a boy racer that you might see on the news.
“Whether he’s not noticed the junction because of the mephedrone or whether he’s been inattentive, we’ll never know.”
He added: “It’s almost as if he thinks he has the right of way, and it’s not until too late that he throws in the anchor, with catastrophic results.”