'Million-to-one' sight for crash rider who couldn't find his bike

Mr Wilkinson, 58, was knocked unconscious by the impact with a car and couldn't work out where his bike had gone when he came round a few moments later.

Looking up and down the street he thought the 1000cc Suzuki had disintegrated in the crash. But his pride and joy had sailed through the air and landed on top of a Renault Scenic people carrier.

A witness eventually pointed it out, and told Mr Wilkinson: "Don't worry – your motorbike's parked on top of that car roof over there."

Recovering at home in Brampton Bierlow, Barnsley, vehicle body repairer Mr Wilkinson laughed: "I just wish I'd been around to see it happen.

"How the bike managed to make this perfect landing on top of the car is beyond me. You've got to say it's a million to one thing."

Mr Wilkinson, whose friends have started calling him Evel Knievel, was riding home from an outing with a bunch of his biking pals when the crash happened on a suburban road at Darfield, South Yorkshire.

He added: "I'm still in a lot of pain from the accident, but I only have to look at the photo of the bike on the roof and that puts a smile on my face every time."