A4074 ride of respect for Oxfordshire man killed in crash

Around 500 people gathered at the H Cafe in Berinsfield last Monday evening (May 22) and 220 riders took part in the five-minute ride up and down the A4074.

The ride was in honour of Matthew Marriage, 24, a mechanic from Chalgrove who had been involved in a fatal crash on the same stretch of road a week earlier on May 15.

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His family, including parents Gail and Steve and three younger brothers, met the bikers at the cafe before they set off.

The brothers said they were touched by the number of people who had come to pay tribute to Matthew.

Sam Marriage, 22, said: “When I got down there, I saw people I didn’t know rode bikes. There were people who hadn’t ridden a bike in a while but picked them up especially for him.”

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Tom, 20, added: “It was incredible to see the amount of people who came and to see the respect they had for him.”

Michael, 18, said: “It was emotional obviously but to see how many people actually came out and supported it – it showed how strong the biker community is.”

The ride was organised by John Morris, 24, a motorcycle technician who had been best friends with Matthew for nearly 20 years.

He said: “I would have been happy if a quarter of the people had turned up but for something of that size to go ahead was amazing.”