WITNESSES have told a jury inquest into the death of a biker being pursued by police how they saw him riding at high speed in the seconds before he lost control.

Norman Brindley was driving a Scraggs bus on Werrington Road, Bucknall, on June 21, 2005, when he saw a black motorbike ridden by 25-year-old Robert Shaw, of Driffield Close, Bentilee, at about 11.15am.

"He was in the process of beginning to overtake me when I first saw him. When he overtook me the bike was on the wrong side of the road," he told the inquest at Hanley Town Hall yesterday.

"It then returned to the correct side of the road but towards the centre of the carriageway."

Mr Brindley said he would guess the bike was travelling at about 90mph.

He said. "It was a very fast speed. I carried on observing the motorbike. The road bends slightly to the right. He lost it. It clipped the kerb."

Mr Brindley, who used to ride motorbikes himself, said he felt the motorcyclist should have turned as the road forks, but he did not.

He said: "Instead of turning he took a straight path. He missed the traffic island. He went to the left of that. He drove straight on and hit the kerb. He started to wobble, then hit the kerb, and went 8ft in the air."

The inquest, which started on Monday, has heard Mr Shaw, pictured, was pursued by PC Eric Moorfield before crashing his bike and dying.

The officer had been alerted to Mr Shaw's untaxed bike through a machine on his own bike and tried to stop the rider.

Mr Brindley said there was a gap between the first motorbike and the police motorbike of about seven or eight seconds.

He added: "When Robert Shaw came to grief, the police motorcyclist was just past me."

Coroner Ian Smith asked him: "What distance was there between Robert Shaw's bike and the police bike when Robert began to come to grief?" Mr Brindley replied: "Fifty yards. The policeman was starting to catch up with him."

He said Mr Shaw did not put any brakes on, but he saw the police motorbike's brake lights.

Mr Shaw's father Ian Shaw put it to Mr Brindley that the police bike could have been closer to his son's bike.

"It could have been," he said.

The statement of carer Linda Plant was read to the jury. She was driving towards Cellarhead when she heard a loud sound of a motorbike travelling at speed. She wrote: "It overtook me in a flash, so fast I could not describe the bike or rider. I thought 'what an idiot'.

"I heard a siren and was then overtaken a moment later by a police motorbike. It overtook me at about the same speed as the other bike."

Katie Gough was cleaning the bedroom window of her house in Werrington Road when she heard sirens.

She said: "The first vehicle I could see was a dark-coloured motorbike. It was exceeding the speed limit, I would say about 55mph. A police motorcycle was about 30 metres behind. I would assume they were going about the same speed. I did not see the collision, I heard it."

The jury inquest continues.