A 28-YEAR-OLD motorcycle courier was catapulted almost 30ft through the air after colliding head on with a car, an inquest was told.

Stephen Franks, of Havelock Street, Oswaldtwistle, sustained serious and multiple head injuries when his Honda bike was in a head-on collision with a red Ford Orion in Haslingden Old Road, Blackburn, in April last year.

The Orion, being driven by 23-year-old Graham Jones, was turning right into Moss Lane when the incident occurred.

An inquest at Blackburn Town Hall heard how Stephen's helmet came off before he landed close to a lamp post further down the road.

Police accident investigator John Sutcliffe said Mr Jones and his passenger Sharon Grimshaw were trying to find the MFI superstore in Whitebirk at the time.

He said: "In simple terms it would appear the driver of the Orion has never even seen the approaching motorcyclist who must have been in view for at least four seconds."

Mr Jones was not called to give evidence but Miss Grimshaw, who formerly lived in Haslingden but has since moved to the North East, told the court she had a mental block about the day.

During the hearing, Stephen's father William Franks asked her: "Why did you not see him?"

She replied: "I don't honestly know. I wish I could answer that." Another witness, David Landon, told the hearing how a motorbike overtook him at speed.

He said: "It actually made me jump when it went past because I hadn't seen it in my rear view mirror.

"It was going quite a bit faster than me and made me look like I was virtually standing still. A minute later I saw the Orion in the middle of the road.

"I stopped the car and got out and the driver ran over to me saying "What do I do? I didn't see him". He was very distressed."

Stephen was treated by a passing district nurse before being taken to Blackburn Royal Infirmary.

He was later transferred to the Royal Preston Hospital but died the next day.

Home office pathologist John Rutherford said Stephen had died from head injuries. Stephen was working for Oswaldtwistle's Delta courier firm, formerly Black Cat Couriers, and was the third man from the firm to be killed in road accidents in recent years.

His mum Kathleen Clews, of Lydgate, Burnley, was in court with her husband Roland and Stephen's father, of Burns Avenue, Oswaldtwistle, to hear coroner Andre Rebello record a verdict of accidental death.

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