THE wife of a biker who died after an horrific accident in North Yorkshire has called for powerful motorbikes to be banned.

Susan Sharp, 50, of Partridge Close, Bridlington, had ridden motorbikes with her husband Peter, 51, for almost 25 years.

But she said that his death following his first-ever accident had made her completely change her opinion of the machines.

Mrs Sharp was riding pillion on the Suzuki Burghman 650 when it collided with a coach on the B1257 Malton to Helmsley road on August 24.

The couple were taken to James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough, where Mr Sharp died on Friday.

Mrs Sharp was due to be discharged today and go home to their daughter, Linsey Rose, 19.

From the hospital ward she said: "I think motorbikes should be banned. They are too dangerous, they are getting too powerful.

"We weren't even going fast, but one minute we were on the bike and the next we weren't.

"Peter had a massive brain injury, which was irreversible, and two broken bones in his back so even if he had survived he would've been paralysed.

"He also broke the right side of his jaw and the right side of his collar bone."

The couple, who had celebrated their 27th wedding anniversary three days previously, had enjoyed a trip to Whitby, Scarborough and Helmsley.

In the crash Mrs Sharp injured her leg, which had already been broken last year, damaged two fingers and chipped a bone in her neck.

She said she was soon told by doctors that her husband would not recover from his horrific injuries. She then had the unbearable task of turning off her husband's ventilator.

He died on Friday, five days after the collision.

Mrs Sharp said: "I more or less knew from Monday that it was so serious that he wouldn't survive.

"It might have been better if we had been in a car, but as it was he had no chance.

"He had a bike licence for 24 years and this was his first ever accident. We were out on the bikes every weekend. We used to have one each but we sold his because it was too powerful. This time he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"Now I think they should just stop making them, this accident has just changed my views completely and I think it will for lots of our friends."

North Yorkshire Police spokesman Ron Johnson said: "The fact that 23 bikers have died so far this year means that we have had 23 tragedies in the county.

"If this had been the result of a single accident it would have been a major disaster.

"The fact that it's over several incidents doesn't alter that fact - it's still a major disaster for the families involved."

The number of motorcyclists to die on the roads of North Yorkshire this year has reached the grim total of 23 - equal to the number of biker deaths during the whole of 2002.

Motorcyclist Shaun Smith, 38, of York, who suffered serious injuries when his Yamaha 600cc motorbike was in collision with a silver Subaru in Acomb on August 17, today remained critical but stable in Leeds General Infirmary.

Updated: 10:30 Tuesday, September 02, 2003