A chef who died after his motorcycle crashed into the back of a stationary vehicle had consumed more than twice the legal limit of alcohol, an inquest heard.

Ellis Overy, 21, had been returning to his home in Matfield after working at the Who'D A Thought It restaurant in Grafty Green when the accident happened on the Tonbridge Road at Wateringbury at 12.40am on Sunday, June 10.

The lead police investigator into the case, PC Simon Masterson, said that Mr Overy had passed CCTV cameras at the Shell garage and neighbouring hotel in Wateringbury, some 280 metres before the accident, which revealed that he had been travelling at between 82 and 93mph.

His Honda motorcycle had been examined and was found to have a number of serious defects, including a badly worn front brake disc, and a rear brake pad worn down to the metal, as well as a defective rear tyre - each of which would have caused the bike to fail an MOT.

In addition, Mr Overy had taken his motorcycle to a garage some six weeks before the accident where he had been advised of its serious faults and where a mechanic had written on the notes: "This is not fit to be on the road."

Assistant coroner Christopher Sutton Mattocks heard that Mr Overy had first driven into a stationary and unattended Skoda Fabia. He had fallen from his machine, which had continued to slide along the road to crash into the front of a house in Tonbridge Road. Mr Overy himself had collided with a concrete post and suffered serious injuries.

The drivers of a car in front of Mr Ellis and a car behind him both stopped to assist and several neighbours on hearing a bang left their homes and rushed to the scene.

By chance, a car with two British Rail Transport police was passing shortly after and the officers were able to give first aid to Mr Overy within minutes of the crash, but to no avail. He was declared dead at the scene at 1.44pm.

A toxicology report found Mr Overy had 165mg of alcohol in 100ml of blood (the drink-drive limit is 80mg.)

There were also traces of cocaine in his system, but in a relatively low dosage.

The coroner concluded the death had been the result of an accident and described it as "an appalling tragedy for the family."

The former Mascalls Academy pupil was born at Pembury, grew up in Oakfield Road and had previously worked as a chef at Sankey’s in Tunbridge Wells.

His father Neil, mother Sadie and brothers Lewis and Reece attended the inquest along with other relatives and friends.

Following the inquest the parents released a statement saying: "As a family we would like to thank every single person who came to the assistance of our son that night.

"We appreciate the efforts made trying to save his life by the passers-by, police and ambulance crew. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts."

The statement continued: "Ellis isn't here to explain what happened that night. All we can hope is that other young riders learn from his mistakes and realise that they are not invincible and that it could happen to anyone.

"Ellis will be greatly missed, and our loss in unbearable."