A multi-millionaire former miner who late last year bought the company that makes the Segway personal transportation vehicle has died after apparently driving one of the two-wheeled powered units off a cliff while riding around his Yorkshire estate.
According to BBC News, Jimi Hesleden, aged 62 and said to be worth £166 million, lost his life when his Segway fell into the River Wharfe as he toured his estate at Thorp Arch, Boston Spa, West Yorkshire.
Mr Heselden started working in the mines after leaving school at the age of 15, and was made redundant during the wave of pit closures in the 1980s. He subsequently founded the company Hesco Bastion, best known for providing portable, easy-to-erect barriers that have been deployed at British armed forces bases in Iraq and Afghanistan and which were also used in the US in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
The entrepreneur led a consortium which bought Segway last December, eight years after the personal transporter was first launched. While it has never been quite the hit with the general public that its inventor Dean Kamen first envisaged – although there is a thriving Segway Polo league in Silicon Valley – it has proved popular with security companies and law enforcement agencies.
A spokesperson for Hesco Bastion told the BBC: "It is with great sadness that we have to confirm that Jimi Heselden OBE, has died in a tragic accident near his home in West Yorkshire."
The spokesperson added: "Jimi is perhaps best known for his charity work with Help for Heroes and the Leeds Community Foundation.
"A £10 million gift to the foundation earlier this month saw his lifetime charitable donations top £23 million.
"Our thoughts go out to his family and many friends, who have asked for privacy at this time."
Nothing new about zebra [or light controlled] crossing on roundabouts. Sheffield has had them for decades, possibly since the 1970s.
Herefordshire man fined after throwing parking ticket...
Drivers like you tsk tsk
I'm sure that sort of thing will come sooner or later. But presumably a key ingredient (and why you'd turn to a big brand like Fizik) is knowing...
"the cost to rebuild the M25 junction 10/A3 Wisley interchange is £317 million. The project is expected to be completed in 2025. "
I think they did, from memory back in the 70s/80s... haven't seen one for years though, our current milkman uses a standard van, albeit hybrid.
I believe that straight forks that are used on carbon frames are more dangerous than the old steel forks because they are more rigid, the old steel...
Yes, sleep apnea produces more CO... I'm not aware of any doping effect but what do I know....
That's true enough. But doesn't address my point that the chainset you get as a replacement will not physically fit chainrings from the chain set...
In all fairness, it almost certainly NEVER happened…