A BURY father-of-two was one and a half times over the legal drink drive limit when he was killed in a motorcycle crash on the motorway.

And this, combined with the speed of his Kawasaki, may have been factors to explain why John Simon Lee lost control of his machine on the M60 at Simister in March.

An inquest was told Mr Lee (40), died after his motorcycle suddenly veered to the offside of the carriageway and struck a road sign.

The sheet metal worker, who was on his way to visit his mother in Oldham, was thrown from the machine and died from his injuries at the scene.

At the hearing in Bury on Tuesday (Sept 19), deputy coroner Matthew Cox said the exact cause of the accident was still unclear.

In a statement, car driver Natalie Chivers told how she was travelling on the same stretch of the motorway at around 70mph when the motorcycle overtook her. Miss Chivers, who lives in Crumpsall, said the bike was heading towards the central crash barrier "twitching and swerving as if the rider was attempting to control it".

Seconds later, the inquest was told, the machine hit a road sign and Mr Lee was thrown into the carriageway.

Two doctors and a nurse tended the injured man but he was pronounced dead at the scene. A post mortem disclosed death was due to a fractured skull.

A report by Greater Manchester Police's accident investigation unit revealed that the pressures of both tyres were below the recommended levels.

But officers stressed there was no evidence that this contributed to the accident.

The inquest was told at the time of the accident, Mr Lee had 200 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood. The legal limit is 80.

Prior to his death, he had been staying at lodgings in Bury Road, Tottington, after leaving the family home in Horsham Close, Bury, which he had shared with his wife and children.

Recording a verdict of accidental death, Mr Cox said: "The circumstances of the accident are relatively clear. But there is nothing in the examination of the motor cycle which can account for the reason why the deceased lost control."

He said speed could have been a factor as well as the level of alcohol which the deputy coroner said was "well above what it should have been for the purposes of driving."