A 'BELOVED husband and adored dad of two' from Whitehaven tragically died after crashing his motorbike during an epileptic seizure on his way home from Sellafield - an inquest has heard.

Craig McDonald, 60, died at the scene on the road between the Sellafield main entrance and the Blackbeck roundabout to the A595 on March 21, 2024, after sustaining severe chest injuries.

Mr McDonald had left work at around 4.45am after working a night shift.

A Sellafield colleague said in a statement to Cockermouth Coroner's Court that he seemed 'cheerful’ and was not acting out of the ordinary.

Fellow Sellafield workers travelling in a car leaving the site said in statements that they witnessed a motorcycle overtaking them on the road.

Around one to two hundred metres in front of them, they saw that the rider of the motorbike had 'come off the road'.

 A passenger called 999 at 4.57am, and paramedics, who arrived shortly after, pronounced Mr McDonald dead at 5.28am.

A statement submitted to the court by Mr McDonald's wife, Dawn, said that he was diagnosed with grand-mal epilepsy in 1997, but the condition was 'well controlled' with medication.

He was also a keen motorcyclist, having ridden motorcycles since the age of 16.

Mr McDonald underwent annual tests to prove his fitness to work with the condition.

His latest test was in late 2023, which he passed.

A GP report also stated that regular testing requested by the DVLA showed that Mr McDonald was fit to drive.

She said that on the morning of March 21, she got out of bed at around 5.10am, and then again at 5.40am, and became concerned that her husband had not arrived home.

Mrs McDonald’s statement said she could ‘see the hi-vis jackets’, she 'thought she knew why they were there', and that she thought he would be injured, not dead.

She said she found the news Mr McDonald had died 'devastating'.

Mrs McDonald said: "I was in shock, it broke me"

A collision investigation conducted by Cumbria Police concluded that that no other vehicles or third parties were involved in the collision.

The report also ruled out that any mechanical failure or fault in the motorbike could have contributed to the incident.

Given Mr McDonald’s medical history, the report stated: "A medical episode, specifically epilepsy, has been the most likely cause of the collision.

"The marks on the carriageway and offside damage to the motorcycle correspond with Craig no longer providing any steering or propulsion to the bike once he had started to negotiate the bend."

The report said that the rider and motorcycle appear to have left the road, hit the grass verge on the left, changed direction and ended up close to the grass verge on the opposite, southbound carriageway.

It said that when the motorcycle had changed direction, it was 'highly likely’ that Mr McDonald had collided with a galvanised metal pole on the side of the northbound carriageway.

The report said it was 'unlikely that he received these injuries from colliding with the carriageway'.

Area Coroner for Cumbria, Ms Kirsty Gomersal, said that the significant findings from the toxicology report showed that Mr McDonald had been taking his anti-epilepsy medication, but 'just because the medication is being taken doesn’t mean that a seizure cannot take place'.

Accepting the medical cause of death of chest injuries, Ms Gomersal concluded that Mr McDonald's death was caused by a road traffic collision caused by an epileptic episode.

She said: "Craig was a beloved husband of Dawn, and an adored dad of two.

"He was a popular, likeable man with a cheeky sense of humour, and his close family unit were shattered earlier this year when Craig died in an incident involving his motorbike."