Motorcyclist, 26, dies after crash on Copers Cope Road, Beckenham

Emergency services were called at around 8.05am to reports of a collision between a car and a motorcycle in Copers Cope Road at the junction with Bridge Road.

The motorcyclist, a 26-year-old man, was pronounced dead at the scene by the doctor from London’s Air Ambulance.

His next of kin have been informed.

Neighbours said the man worked at the Benedict House nursing home along Copers Cope Road, just yards away from where he died.

Paul Liggett, 49, lives off Copers Cope Road and said: “He worked down the road at the old people’s home. It’s just 200 yards away, it’s horrible.

“He was on his way to work, one of the girls there had asked him to stop and get her a sandwich on his way in. They spoke to him about 7.30am.

“It was an accident waiting to happen. I’m not surprised, this road is ridiculous. People take chances pulling out.

“Cars come down here going 50, 60 miles an hour. It’s very dangerous; you risk your life on that bend.

“I find it amazing that fatalities have to happen before something gets done. What’s the price of a human life?”

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The IT salesman added: “The parents have now got to live with this for the rest of their lives; it’s the most unnatural for the child to die before their parents. It’s so sad.”

Benedict House did not wish to comment when approached by News Shopper.

Builder Chris Raynor, 25, was on his way to work in nearby Lennard Road this morning.

Mr Raynor, from Carshalton, said: “I was about five cars behind and I saw the bumper come off.

“I think it was a female driver, it looked like she drove over something, and there was glass on the ground.

“Then everyone stopped and got out.”

The motorcycle at the scene

Motorists are advised to avoid the area as accident investigation work is carried out and bus route 352 is diverted.

Kirstin Blanchard, who lives in nearby Sellindge Close, told News Shopper: “My boyfriend couldn’t get out of the close, this morning.

“He walked down to where the road was cordoned off.

“He saw two wheels and the rest of the bike was a big lump of metal.”

Ms Blanchard, a 38-year-old Royal Mail worker, said Copers Cope Road was very unsafe with cars often speeding and trying to cut one another up.

She added: "It’s the sixth accident we have counted along this road so far, this year.

“We need some sort of traffic lights to slow the traffic down and make it a little bit safer.”

Reece Harrison, aged 29, of Copers Cope Road, also raised concerns over the safety of the road.

He said: "We have the windows open in our flat and we continuously hear wheel spinning and cars beeping their horns.

"That junction is very dangerous. It was probably never designed to hold that level of traffic."

Photographer Jonny Fidget, 24, said: “When I arrived at the scene, I saw it was closed off and the air ambulance doctor working on the patient in the road.

“I believe they were trying to resuscitate him.”

Bromley police and London Ambulance Service also attended.

No arrests have been made.

Enquiries continue.

Anyone who saw the incident is asked to call police on 101.