RELATIVES of a young motocross rider have vowed to campaign for safer circuits after raising serious concerns about the condition and procedures in place at the track where he lost his life.

Thomas Brown, of Barnard Castle, died at the age of 27 from chest injuries sustained in a motorcycle crash at Quadsport Leisure, at Low Hardwick Farm, Sedgefield, on April 30, last year.

At an inquest yesterday, a jury found the young farmer's death was an accident and did not touch upon the condition of the track or safety policies in its conclusion.

However, during the hearing at Crook Coroner's Court, Mr Brown's family raised questions about the lack of regulations for non-competitive practice tracks, the condition of the track and its outlying areas and the absence of safety processes in place at the site, managed by Alf Walton and owned by his wife Antoinette.

Afterwards his parents, sisters, wider family and friends spoke of their plans to campaign in his name to encourage riders and circuit owners to look for and improve track safety.

Under the title Thom's Law, their long term aim is to introduce legislation for non-competitive practice tracks that are currently not subject to legally-binding regulations.

Samantha Brown, Mr Brown's mother, said: "We got the outcome we expected. Our biggest concern now is to try to learn from this and make sure that it doesn't happen again. There's no legislation and it's that bit we really want to change."

The court heard that on the day of the accident Mr Brown was on his second stint on the track and at about 11.40am appeared to fly through the air, coming off his bike and landing in a ditch.

A call was made to the ambulance service at 11.43am and a paramedic crew arrived at 12.12pm, followed closely by an air ambulance.

Mr Brown, suffering severe internal injuries, was treated at the scene before being taken by road ambulance to James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough, where he died shortly after.

Sergeant Phil Grieve, of Durham Police, told assistant coroner Oliver Longstaff an investigation concluded Mr Brown had potentially taken a left hand turn too quickly and lost control of his motorcycle.

He added there was no unanimous view among witnesses as to whether the track was in good or poor condition.

Giving evidence, North-East Ambulance Service paramedic Gareth Alderson said bikes were still moving on the tracks on arrival to the off-road site.

For safety reasons and due to the nuisance of dust and noise, Mr Alderson said he made a request to Mr Walton to stop the riders on the site's tracks but received a "negative response".

Mr Walton stated the track that Mr Brown had used had been closed along with another, while five remained open due to their wider proximity to the scene.

Mr Brown's family criticised Mr Walton over the handling of the scene, raising further concerns about the procedure for calling an ambulance and detailing the circumstances.

The jury heard Mr Walton attended the scene then rang his wife to ask her to ring for an ambulance and to explain it was "serious", later ringing himself to query its whereabouts.

Mr Brown's grieving relatives also raised questions about responsible body Durham County Council regarding the lack of legislation governing such non-competitive tracks.

When asked by Mrs Brown whether it had taken her son's death for the authority to look again at the situation of non-competitive tracks under its remit, inspector David Hall said "yes".

He confirmed such tracks were under no legal obligation to adhere to the rules which racing and time-trial tracks are subject to – including no requirement for a first-aider to be present.

The Brown family, who built and opened a track in Mr Brown's name in Cumbria, hope to compile safety packs to give to practice tracks to encourage improved safety and raise awareness among riders of what features to look out for.