A JURY has concluded that an 83-year-old cyclist probably hit a pothole in Bury New Road, Ramsbottom, which caused him to come off his bicycle and suffer a traumatic brain injury.

The decision came at the end of a three day inquest into the death of Roger Hamer.

In reaching their narrative verdict the jury, sitting at a coroner’s court in Heywood, raised concerns about the consistency with which potholes and other road defects were dealt with by the highway authority.

Their conclusion, read out by assistant coroner Peter Sigee, stated that one pothole in Bury New Road 'possibly contributed' and another deeper pothole 'probably did contribute' to Mr Hamer falling from his bicycle.

They added: "The practices set out by the highway authority are not dealt with consistently. For example the use of spray paint and recording tools such as photos and measurements."

Mr Hamer went over the handlebars of his bicycle on Bury New Road, Ramsbottom, while cycling along the road on a shopping errand on March 5 last year.

Just a month earlier a resident had reported a pothole on the same stretch of road to Bury Council.

Mr Hamer, of Manchester Road, Walmersley, suffered a traumatic brain injury as a result of the fall from his bicycle, as well as multiple fractures including to his skull and pelvis.

He was treated in Salford Royal Hospital, where the decision was eventually made to place him under palliative care and he died on April 2 last year.