Christopher Maclure, 21, of Priory Road, Ashton, was killed when he crashed his police bicycle into the side of a lorry as he tried to negotiate a busy junction in Hindley Green on September 10 last year.

Greater Manchester Police admitted that Mr Maclure's riding ability while on duty was not tested by an authorised police assessor but instead the responsibility was handed to a fellow PCSO, Bolton Coroner's Court was told.

GMP health and safety officer Marie Parkinson said: "The system failed in that it was not the competency assessor that delivered the assessment to Christopher."

During his evidence, Mr Maclure's father Donald insisted that, although his son had always had a bicycle, he was not a confident cyclist.
But Mr Maclure did volunteer to become a bicycle-mounted PCSO. Donald
Maclure said: "He wasn't a keen cyclist and he wasn't keen to ride them (his bikes].

"He very rarely rode them more than a few hundred metres.
"Once he got past his mid-teens I don't remember him cycling at all, from about 15 or 16 years of age."

Mr Maclure was killed as he tried to turn left from Atherton Road on to Leigh Road in Hindley Green.
James Pennington, a truck driver with around 32 years of HGV experience, was driving an eight-wheel HGV in the same direction. He was stationary at the traffic lights at that junction, signalling to turn left.

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