AN emotional inquest has heard how a cyclist ‘zoomed’ across both lanes of a dual carriageway into the crash which sadly took his life.

Peter Sugarman, from Granville Square in Winsford, sped down Moss Bank and across the junction into the A54 High Street on his Apollo bicycle, narrowly avoiding a lorry before crashing into the passenger side of a van.

In a touching exchange at Crewe Town Hall, the family of 44-year-old Peter Sugarman, praised by coroner Claire Welch for their dignity, told the driver of the Vauxhall Combo courier van, ‘our hearts go out to you’.

Witnesses including the drivers of the van, the lorry, and the white Kia waiting at the junction described the crash, which occurred shortly after 2pm on October 24 last year.

Graham Long, who was driving the Mercedes lorry along High Street, approaching the Moss Bank junction, said: “I started to slow down because of the speed of the cyclist.

“I didn’t think he was going to stop – I thought he was going to run into the back of the white car. He was travelling at speed, and pedalling.

“I was slowing down in anticipation, when at the last moment he veered around the driver’s side of the white car and came in front of me.”

Mr Sugarman, who was not wearing a helmet, missed the lorry by inches but – only around a second after exiting the Moss Bank junction – crashed into the side of the van.

Kia driver Pauline Mitchell recalled how Mr Sugarman ‘zoomed’ passed her at the junction and into the traffic, which she described as constant.

Van driver Stuart Carroll, whose view of the junction was blocked by the lorry, said: “I went to overtake the lorry and noticed it slowing down, so I slowed down but without braking.

“The next thing I knew there was a bang on the side of the van.”

He was travelling around 20mph at the time of impact, well under the speed limit of 40mph.

The Sugarman family told Mr Carroll: “Please don’t feel any guilt. We feel for you as much as we do for Peter. Our hearts go out to you.”

Forensic collision investigator PC John Edwards described the crash as ‘unavoidable’ once the bicycle had failed to give way at the junction.

An air ambulance was sent to the scene, where Mr Sugarman was unconscious with a wound to the back of his head.

He was flown to Royal Stoke University Hospital, where he was found to have non-survivable brain injuries and sadly died that night surrounded by family.

A post-mortem report found that Mr Sugarman had heroin in his system, although it could not be shown whether this was sufficient to impact his cycling ability. An inspection also found that only the rear brakes on the bicycle were functioning.

Mrs Welch said: “Peter’s family showed incredible dignity, and I would echo what they said.

“I offer my heartfelt condolences. Regardless of the way he came about his death, Peter was clearly a much-loved son and is very badly missed.”