A motorcycle rider died when he was thrown into a crash barrier on the M40, a coroner heard today.

Leo Buckingham passed away at the scene of a crash involving a blue Volvo XC40 at junction 1a of the M40 on Wednesday, March 10.

Mr Buckingham, an art technician from Victoria Place in Banbury, Oxfordshire, was riding his Suzuki GSXR1000 motorbike at the time.

A pre-inquest review, held at Buckinghamshire Coroner’s Court in Beaconsfield on Wednesday afternoon, heard that the driver of the Volvo had been travelling in the third lane out of three, and had indicated to move into the second lane.

Mr Buckingham, on his motorcycle, had reportedly then moved from lane two to lane three, but assistant coroner for Buckinghamshire, Nick Graham, said: “For reasons not established, before colliding, the Volvo driver has moved back into lane three.”

This meant Mr Buckingham’s motorbike crashed into the back of the Volvo, catapulting him into the crash barrier.

A post-mortem report found he died of multiple injuries.

The pre-inquest review heard that Thames Valley Police are carrying out their own investigation into how the 41-year-old motorcycle rider died.

Reading from a police report, Mr Graham said that at 5.43pm, when the crash happened, it was clear and visibility was good.

Mr Graham said: “The police have started their own investigation understandably, and their enquiries are still ongoing. Therefore, I am not able to progress matters much today.

“The plan would be for the coroner to list it for a future hearing on October 7, 2021. We will continue to liaise with Thames Valley Police to determine whether there will be a criminal investigation. We should be much clearer on that by October.”