A disabled biker died when his specially modified motorbike crashed at a cross roads, seriously injuring his grandson and killing another motorcyclist.

Ilkley grandfather Gordon Thackray, 58, who was riding a bike he had adapted so he could use it with one hand, ignored a give way sign and smashed into Mark Dossett near Askwith, North Yorkshire, an inquest heard on Tuesday.

Mr Dossett, 45, of Cliffe Terrace, Baildon, died at the scene in tragic circumstances ‘under which he had no control’, the inquest in Harrogate was told.

Mr Thackray’s 12-year-old grandson, Anthony Windsor, of Yeadon, suffered two broken legs in the double fatal accident at the junction of Weston Moor Road and Askwith Moor Road junction on April 5 this year.

He had been riding pillion on the way to a country pub to celebrate his granddad’s birthday when Mr Thackray, of Valley Drive, Ilkley, rode straight across the Weston Moor Road junction with Askwith Moor Road.

Despite trying to avoid Mr Thackray’s bike by slamming on his brakes, Mr Dossett could do nothing to prevent the accident.

Witness Michael Collins, who was riding his BMW motorbike about 30 yards away from the crash, told the inquest: “Mr Thackray didn’t slow down at all. I couldn’t believe it when he just carried on.”

Police crash investigator Steve Kirkbright told the inquest that, had he lived, it would have been “highly likely” Mr Thackray would have been facing criminal charges of causing Mr Dossett’s death by careless driving.

“It is my opinion that Mr Thackray failed to stop at the junction and brought himself into direct conflict with Mr Dossett,” he said.

“Mr Dossett died of circumstances over which he had no control.”

Coroner Geoff Fell described the modifications to Mr Thackray’s 25-year-old trial bike as a ‘Heath Robinson’ contraption.

Mr Kirkbright said there had been “an air of disbelief” among roads police at the scene at the state of Mr Thackray’s bike and the adjustments he had made to it.

However, the court heard evidence that Mr Thackray, who had lost his right arm in a motorbike accident in the 1970s, could ride it competently. It had passed its MOT shortly before the crash.

Mr Fell suggested that, because of his disability, Mr Thackray might have found it ‘an inconvenience’ to stop at the junction.

It would have meant him having to use one hand to perform a hill start, with his grandson on the back of the bike.

When asked whether the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) had given any advice about possible prosecutions, Mr Kirkbright replied: “Yes. They were of the opinion it was highly likely that there would have been a prosecution for causing death by careless driving had Mr Thackray lived.”

Mr Fell recorded a verdict of unlawful killing on Mr Dossett and a narrative verdict that Mr Thackray’s death was caused when he “failed to comply with a give way sign and as a consequence collided with a motorcycle on a major road”.

Mr Thackray, who lived in Ilkley, was well known in both Ilkley and Otley.

l In a separate inquest on Tuesday, Mr Fell recorded a verdict of misadventure over the death of Leeds motorcyclist Stephen Wrightson. Mr Wrightson, 62, of Lidgett Lane, Leeds, died in a single vehicle motorbike crash on Askwith Moor Road on April 24 this year. The inquest heard Mr Wrightson died from multiple injuries, which included severe head injuries.