SNOW on the road may have caused a man to come off his motorbike and fall into the path of an oncoming car, an inquest was told. 

John Michael Thomas, from Corwen, died at the scene of the incident on the A539 between Trevor and Llangollen on December 2, 2023. 

At County Hall in Ruthin on Monday (October 7), an inquest was held into the 29-year-old's death. 

It heard that Mr Thomas was riding a blue Honda motorbike in the direction of Llangollen at around 6.30pm. 

The inquest was told that Balwinder Singh was driving a black coloured Vauxhall Insignia in the opposite direction when the collision occurred at around 6.38pm. 

Baljeet Singh, a passenger in the Vauxhall which was travelling between 40 and 45mph, said that he saw a motorcycle "slipping" on the road up ahead. Moments later, Mr Thomas came off his bike and into the path of the Vauxhall - colliding with the front off-side. 

Emergency services attended, but, sadly, Mr Thomas was pronounced dead at the scene at 7.23pm. 

A pathologist's cause of death following a post-mortem examination was multiple injuries due to road traffic collision. 

John Michael ThomasJohn Michael Thomas (Image: North Wales Police)

Neither Mr Thomas, nor Mr Singh, had any drugs or alcohol in their system at the time of the collision, the inquest heard. 

The inquest was told that Mr Singh only had a provisional driving licence - but was not displaying learner plates and was not accompanied by a suitable passenger. The coroner's court heard that Mr Singh was subsequently prosecuted and dealt with in criminal court for the offence. However, there was no evidence to suggest Mr Singh's driving in any way caused the collision. 

Gordon Saynor, an experienced forensic collision investigator with North Wales Police, attended the scene of the incident. He attended the inquest to give evidence.

Mr Saynor said he noted a 50 metre-long strip of snow on the Llangollen-bound side of the carriageway which was positioned prior to where the collision occurred.

Based on the investigations completed, Mr Saynor said the only possible cause of the collision from factors near the scene was that Mr Thomas reacted to the snow in front of him by locking the front brakes of the bike. Mr Saynor said locking the front brakes would cause Mr Thomas' motorbike to "capsize". 

Following the incident, senior coroner John Gittins issued a prevention of future deaths report to Denbighshire Council over a section of the A539 near Trevor which was continually flooding.

However, the inquest heard that the section of road causing concerns was over 200 metres away from the scene of the collision. Mr Saynor said that the road surface where the incident happened was not a cause for concern. There were also no mechanical defects to either vehicle involved that would have contributed to the cause of the collision. 

Kate Robertson, assistant coroner for North Wales East and Central, recorded a conclusion of road traffic collision.