Caretaker's death a 'tragic accident'

TT fan died during overtaking manoeuvre

The death of a TT fan and motorcyclist from Merseyside has been ruled a tragic accident.

Fifty-six-year-old James 'Jimmy' Gilmour, a caretaker from Prenton, was killed when his machine was involved in a collision with a Mercedes Vito between the Creg-ny-Baa and Hillberry on Sunday, 27 May last year.

The inquest into his death concluded at Douglas courthouse yesterday (Fri 11th)

A number of witnesses who were in the area at the time of the collision were at the inquest.

Their statements told of Mr Gilmour overtaking one car, then attempting to go past another one further down the road.

Almost simultaneously, a Ford Kuga up ahead went to overtake a Mercedes Vito, which left Mr Gilmour with nowhere to go when he caught up to them.

He ended up braking and turning back in, hitting the back of the Vito at speed.

Coroner of Inquests John Needham said he accepted what all the drivers involved had said, acknowledging the Peugeot Mr Gilmour overtook was some distance back from the Vito and Kuga when he did so.

He also said he accepted the Kuga driver’s assertion he hadn’t seen anything approaching in his mirrors before he went to overtake the Vito.

Mr Needham said he’d come to the conclusion Mr Gilmour’s motorcycle was accelerating hard and was going quicker than the 40mph limit.

He added it seemed the Kuga driver’s overtake coincided with Mr Gilmour’s, who ‘opened up’ his motorcycle and would have closed the distance between them very quickly.

Mr Needham thanked all those who helped at the scene, and passed his condolences onto Mr Gilmour’s family.

His sister and her husband were in attendance.