A ROAD smash on Teesside has claimed its second victim.

Motorcyclist James Cooper, 20, of Thames Road, Billingham, died in hospital on October 1, following a collision between his motorbike and a Ford Transit minibus at Sedgefield, last month.

Formal evidence of identification was given by his father, 52-year-old William Cooper of Thames Road, Billingham, at the opening of an inquest in Middlesbrough, yesterday.

The customer care representative died in the James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough, where his pillion passenger, 20-year-old Elizabeth Munt, also from Billingham, died on September 8.

The accident happened when the bike and the minibus collided at the junction of Beacon Lane and Stockton Road, on the A689 at Sedgefield, County Durham, on September 5. The inquest was adjourned to a date to be fixed.

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