A 'kind soul' died after losing control while riding a motorbike off road.
An inquest at Warrington Coroner's Court heard that Callum Ferns, from Runcorn, died from multiple injuries after losing control of a motorbike on August 5, last year. The 24-year-old was described as being 'infatuated' with motorcycles and friends said he was a very 'experienced' rider.
The court heard that Callum crashed at Wigg Island nature reserve, in Halton, and was rushed to hospital but died a short time later. Callum's father Billy said in a tribute read out in court that he was mostly fit and well but him described as being accident prone, with a number of injuries sustained while he was growing up.
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Callum, who was a spot welder by trade, had got a job with a marine engineering company after impressing the firm where he did work experience at the age of 15, Cheshire Live reports. He described with pride what a hard worker his son was and how much bikes meant to Callum, saying: "He continued to be a hard worker for the rest of his life. He wasn't the sort to go into town drinking but would much rather stay at home with friends.
"He had been infatuated with motorcycles since he was a young boy. We would often be called into school in terms of him making money from running a tuck shop, the proceeds of which would then be spent on bikes."
He added: "We tried to make efforts to discourage him from riding bikes and we didn't allow him to have any at home. He rented a storage place for his bikes."
He said that his son's friends had described Callum as having an "excellent ability" for riding motorbikes. On the day of the accident Callum had "rushed in, got changed and then went out".
Mr Ferns added: "Callum was a very special and one-off kind of son, brother, grandson and friend to so many. He had an infectious personality and was loved by all who knew him. About 500 people attended his funeral.
"We are very proud to say that Callum was our son and we have welcomed the support and the sheer volume of kind messages since his passing. We will be forever grateful to everyone."
Callum's close friend Allan Campbell had been with Callum on the day of the crash. They had decided to go out and try Allan's Yamaha bike, which he was selling to Callum. Callum had asked to have a go on Allan's Kawasaki KX450 bike but Allan said no because there was an issue with the back wheel slipping.
Callum had insisted on taking it off for a ride. They were out with other friends at the nature reserve and were not wearing any helmets or protective clothing. The road conditions were wet and potentially slippy due to some rainfall
Allan, who described Callum as having "no fear" when it came to bikes, said: "We would usually do wheelies when riding together and we would go to Wigg Island a lot. I'm an experienced rider but Dingy was even more experienced than me. He would say 'you can't be scared of falling off' and he was known for his power wheelies."
Allan added that Callum had ridden down under the Mersey Gateway Bridge and had travelled some distance away and "pretty fast", estimating his speed to have been at 80-90 mph, when he did a wheelie. He appeared to wobble and his back wheel must have hit a bump.
He said: "Then I couldn't see him. He disappeared into the trees. I heard a noise but it wasn't too loud as he was so far away."Allan added: "When I saw the bike my heart stopped. I knew it was going to be bad."
In a statement read out by assistant coroner for Cheshire, Heath Westerman, Home Office pathologist Dr Brian Rodgers gave Callum's cause of death as multiple injuries, including a number of broken bones with fractures to his spine, and a head injury. Dr Rodgers said that toxicologist Elizabeth Wasbrough had found no evidence of consumption of alcohol in Callum's body but she did find cannabis above the limit for driving.
Cheshire Constabulary vehicle examiner Aidan Hughes confirmed that the rear tyre was not correctly fitted to the wheel, however, and this could have affected the handling of the bike. He added that the fault with the rear tyre not being correctly seated within the wheel rim "could have created undesirable handling characteristics."
PC Harris from Cheshire Constabulary said he had looked at CCTV and had liaised with the vehicle examiner and it was not possible to confirm the speed at which Callum was travelling when the impact happened. Callum had applied the brakes prior to colliding with the blue pole barrier but he lost control and collided with the barrier.
Assistant coroner for Cheshire, Heath Westerman, said: "I will record and accept the medical cause of death given as multiple injuries and will further record that he died on August 5 2021 at Halton Hospital due to the unsurvivable injuries he sustained."
Mr Westerman added: "Callum had been riding a Kawasaki at speed, performing a wheelie when, having to put the front wheel down and brake he fell from the motorcycle and it collided with a blue pole barrier. My conclusion will therefore be that of accidental death.
"I offer my sincere condolences to a large group of family, friends and relatives. Callum was an immensely popular young man who life was tragically taken away from him by doing something he dearly loved."
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