A TOP polo player pal of Prince Charles, and his sons Princes William and Harry, has told of his horror as a motorcyclist crashed into his horsebox and then was thrown into the path of an oncoming car.

Former public schoolboy, Guy Verdon, 32, from Malmesbury was giving evidence at an inquest into the death of motorbike rider, Andrew Neale, 39.

Mr Verdon said he was taking two ponies along the A433 between Cirencester and Tetbury on September 1 last year when the accident happened at Thameshead.

Mr Verdon is a manager of the Inglesham Polo Club based near Highworth and runs the Estancia San Miguel polo holiday company based at Corrientes, Argentina.

Horticulturalist Mr Neale, 39, of Saxon Road in Cirencester, was killed instantly that afternoon when his Suzuki motorcycle failed to overtake Mr Vernon's blue Ford Cargo horsebox.

Seeing oncoming cars, Mr Neale tried to pull back in behind the horsebox but clipped the side and fell into the road, where he was then run over by Suzanne Wait's green Isuzu Trooper, an inquest in Cirencester heard.

Mr Neale's widow Elaine said that her husband was an "enthusiastic and careful rider" and his motorbike was his "pride and joy."

Suzanne Wait, from Kemble, told the court she was driving along the route with her four children in the car when the collision drove her car into a verge.

"In my eyes it looked like he was trying to slow down to get back behind the horsebox, seeing that he didn't have enough time to overtake," she said.

"I just remember driving over bits of motorcycle.

"It was just seconds, it happened so quickly."

Another motorist, Matthew Eeley, a teacher at Cirencester's Deer Park School, estimated the bike was going around 75 to 80mph at the time of the crash.

Mr Verdon said: "I was taking a couple of horses to ride near Tetbury. Just as I started to go up the incline I heard a big bang and saw lots of debris and could hear skidding noises.

"I saw nothing of the motorcycle. I stopped as quickly as I could about 100 yards up the road. I didn't have a clue what had happened."

Mr Vernon said his rear bumper had been torn off in the collision but his horses were unharmed.

Pathologist Dr Nadir Hasan confirmed that Mr Neale suffered a fractured skull, spinal and rib fractures.

She gave the cause of his death as multiple injuries.

The pathologist found no evidence that Mr Neale had taken drugs or been drinking alcohol.

Cotswold Coroner Lester Maddrell said: "I have observed that the stretch of road has had a disproportionately large number of fatalities on it. It is not easy to see why they have occurred."

Mr Maddrell speculated that a canopy of trees could have restricted visibility on that day, which was otherwise fine, but he observed that other motorists had nonetheless managed to negotiate it safely.

"Whether it was the case that he simply looked out or wanted to overtake is not clear.

"He came into contact with the rear of the horsebox and that was sufficient to make Mr Neale come off his machine.

"He was thrown from it and sustained injuries which were unsurvivable and caused his immediate death.

"It is an unfortunate feature of motorcycles that although they are great fun to ride they offer little protection when things go wrong."

Mr Maddrell gave a verdict of accidental death.