Two men from the Ross-on-Wye area, one a pedestrian and one a motorcyclist, died as the result of a collision, an inquest into their deaths concluded.

The inquest into the deaths of Robert Boyd and Thomas Wheeler took place on Monday, June 3rd at The Shire Hall, Hereford.

34-year-old Thomas Wheeler, from Whitchurch was a pedestrian and 29-year-old Robert Boyd, of Walford, a motorcyclist, when they were involved in a collision on the evening of September 27th, 2018 on the A40 between Whitchurch and Ganarew near the Gulf Daff-Y-Nant Service Station.

Mr Boyd was riding his Yamaha motorbike westbound towards Monmouth when it hit Mr Wheeler, who was crossing the A40 from the petrol station.

Hundreds of cars are thought to have run over the site of the collision before police were able to stop the traffic on the A40 and start recovery and investigation work.

The inquest into the deaths of Robert Boyd and Thomas Wheeler took place on Monday, June 3rd at The Shire Hall, Hereford.

34-year-old Thomas Wheeler, from Whitchurch was a pedestrian and 29-year-old Robert Boyd, of Walford, a motorcyclist, when they were involved in a collision on the evening of September 27th, 2018 on the A40 between Whitchurch and Ganarew near the Gulf Daff-Y-Nant Service Station. Boyd was riding his Yamaha motorbike westbound towards Monmouth at a speed of approximately 80-88mph and hit Wheeler, who was crossing the A40 from the petrol station.

Police used the CCTV from the Service Station in their investigation, there were two cameras, one at the entrance and one at the exit but there was a section of road which was not covered by CCTV. They reported that Wheeler, who was wearing dark clothing, appeared to have checked the road before crossing, and walked ‘normally’.

A police officer, Neil Taylor, said that it appeared that at the moment Wheeler noticed the oncoming motorbike there was a slight increase in his speed but it was only a split second before it collided with him. Mr Taylor also confirmed that the condition of the road surface was fine, the weather was dry and there appeared to be no external factors contributing to the collision.

Mr Wheeler suffered multiple injuries in the crash, while Mr Boyd was thrown from his bike to the central reservation, where he was run over by one or more unknown vehicles that did not stop at the scene.

The alarm was raised when other road users spotted the crashed motorbike and went to help the injured men. A lorry driver, Mr Hudson, told the inquest that he recalled seeing something in the carriageway but was not sure what it was. He stopped and called 999. Dash cam footage from the lorry driver’s vehicle also showed vehicles continuing to pass through the scene. Number plate recognition technology confirmed that more than 500 cars had driven through the incident.

The coroner concluded that their deaths were due to multiple injuries, trauma and the road traffic collision.