A motorcyclist died after he ploughed into the back of a parked car, an inquest heard.

Father-of-one Andrew Adshead was killed on June 12 this year when his red Yamaha R1 motorbike collided with an Audi A3 car near to the Sandwell and Walsall border.

Black Country deputy coroner Dr Andy Thompson yesterday concluded the inquest into the 38-year-old’s death, recording a verdict that he had been killed because of an accident.

His tearful family were at the hearing for the verdict but were too upset to speak.

At the inquest, which was held at Smethwick Council House, witness Gian Kaur, who was driving the Audi car involved in the smash, described the moment tragedy struck.

She said she had been driving along the Walsall New Road, close to the junction with Sandy Lane in Stone Cross, West Bromwich, at 6am on the morning of June 12 but pulled over because she thought her car engine sounded unusual.

She said: “I thought there might have been something the matter. I thought I would pull over and wait a while.

“I was sitting there for about two minutes. Then I heard a loud bang and I thought ‘what is that?’ I didn’t know where it had come from.

“I was dazed, the next thing I knew all the other passing traffic started to stop.”

Pc Paul Robbins, from West Midlands Police, told the inquest it had been a “perfect summer day”, but the sun was low in the sky. “It was the sort of sun that could have caused a problem for motorists,” he said.

“It could have caused some dazzle.”

The coroner Dr Thompson said: “Mr Adshead died of fatal injuries as a result of a road traffic accident.”

Mr Adshead, of Johnson Road, Friar Park, was due to marry fiancee Michelle Jones, aged 43. He also had an eight-year-old son called Lewis.

He had worked as a machine operator at Middleton Paper Company, in Bescot Crescent, Bescot, for 20 years.

Shortly after his death Miss Jones paid tribute to him.

She said: “He was outgoing, very caring and a joker. He was always looking to have laugh. He never had a bad word to say about anybody and was always ready to help somebody if they needed help and he had a heart of gold.”