Two men died instantly in a fireball when a speeding superbike slammed into a stationary car, writes Phil Clee.

The impact at a notorious junction on the A40 near Cassington exploded the petrol tanks of both vehicles, and almost cut the car in two, an inquest in Oxford heard yesterday.

And the hearing was told safety improvements at the junction were now in hand. Witnesses told Coroner Nicholas Gardiner how a routine drive to work turned to tragedy last February when the 900cc Kawasaki Ninja sports bike, being driven by a Rover paint shop manager, hit a Datsun which was in the centre of the road waiting to turn right.

Both the rider, 38-year-old father-of-two Peter Woodman, of Burwell Meadow, Witney, and the car driver, Arthur Cable, 60, from Elm View, Cassington, were killed.

Mr Cable had used the route daily for 12 years. Plans were already in hand to start work on new traffic signals and an island crossing. The junction is expected to become fully automated within weeks.

Witness Richard Smith, of Kempston, Bedfordshire, who was overtaken by Mr Woodman's motorbike, described the machine's speed as "excessive. He said: It was motoring. I'd say, well over a hundred. I felt there would be an accident and then there was a spontaneous explosion." Recording verdicts of accidental death on both men, Mr Gardiner, said: "I'm pleased to note that this notorious trouble spot is having some attention paid to it."

Outside the court, Mr Cable's widow, Hilda, 61, said she was "surprised and angry" at the Coroner's finding. She said: "I know they've started doing work there, but it's too late for us, isn't it?"