A MOTORCYCLIST who died when he collided with a car on the A64 near York was undertaking a "hazardous exercise," an inquest heard.

York Coroner Donald Coverdale said Paul John Stead, 36, of Lilac Avenue, York, had been travelling at a substantial speed when he overtook a line of traffic at the Towthorpe junction of the A64, and collided with a car which had been turning right into the Four Alls Inn, in Malton Road.

The inquest heard that Mr Stead, an experienced motorcyclist, was riding his 750cc Kawasaki machine home from work towards York in April 2002, when he overtook several vehicles which had been slowing down behind a green Volkswagen Polo. Mr Stead then hit the front wing of the Polo.

Recording a verdict of accidental death, Mr Coverdale said: "There's the lesson to be learned, in observing hazards and being aware of them. Overtaking a line of vehicles is fraught with danger."

Abigail Dunne, the driver of the Polo, had been turning into the Four Alls Inn, where she worked as a barmaid on a Monday night.

Traffic Constable Graham McCulloch, said in evidence that as a rider himself, he thought the entrance to the Four Alls Inn car park should be treated as a junction. Speaking about overtaking near the entrance, he said: "It's a lottery, you take a chance. Sometimes you get away with it and sometimes you don't. It is and always will be a chance."

Mr Stead's widow, Mary, and their daughter, Rachel, backed an "enough is enough" call by emergency service chiefs last year, in a bid to cut the number of motorbike deaths on the county's roads.

Mr Coverdale said: "I would like to express my sympathies to Mr Stead's family, for their loss of a man of 36 years of age in these tragic circumstances."

The coroner recorded a verdict of accidental death.

Updated: 10:30 Wednesday, June 18, 2003