21/02/2012

Footballers Death 'Tragic and Untimely'

Dumbarton FC captain Gordon Lennon's death has been described as "tragic and untimely".

The passenger in a 4x4 that crashed into an electricity pole during an off-roading trip on Brahan Estate, Sheriff Alasdair MacFayden said the driver of the vehicle was traveling too fast for the conditions causing the crash and a "terrifying series of events".

The pole snapped on impact with the 32,000-volt electricity cables falling onto the car and electrocuting Lennon as he tried to escape. He was pronounced dead at Raigmore Hospital, Inverness.

In the published determination Sheriff MacFadyen has said that the accident could have been avoided if the driver, Fraser Hughes, had driven with "sufficient care and attention and maintained proper control" and at a "lower speed appropriate to the conditions". He went on to recommend that Highland Council "consider whether off-road events which were open to the public, and involved some form of commercial payment, should require a public entertainment license.*

He also praised the efforts of Mr Lennon's friend James Hampton who had "jumped over what may have been a live electricity conductor in his efforts to try to rescue Mr Lennon and to carry out CPR on him until an ambulance arrived."

Related UK National News Stories
Click here for the latest headlines.

07 May 2009
British Gas Cuts Electricity Prices By 10%
British Gas, the biggest supplier of electricity to homes in Britain, has cut an average 10% off its standard electricity prices. The price cut for 4.5 million customers takes effect immediately. British Gas's electricity rates are now as much as £111 lower than the local supplier.
06 January 2004
Man killed after thief attempted to steal car
A man has died this morning after a car thief drove his own car over him outside Liverpool's John Lennon Airport. At around 5.30am, the 57-year-old man was unloading suitcases from the boot of his car when the car thief struck.
16 August 2004
London's profit-making events to be charged policing costs
Organisers of all profit-making events in London will be pursued for the full policing costs, including overtime, the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) has announced today. However, under current regulations, football clubs remain exempt for the "huge cost of policing" outside their grounds on match days.
26 May 2010
Cross-Border Bid For Electricity Market
A Republic of Ireland energy firm will begin selling power to households in Northern Ireland from June. Airtricity will be the first company to compete with NIE Energy in the domestic electricity market.
12 September 2014
Three Killed In Lincolnshire Road Crash
Lincolnshire Police have reported the deaths of three men in a road crash. Police said the men were killed when a Renault Clio crashed head on with a Vauxhall Astra at about 19:00 on Thursday on the Hogsthorpe Road in Chapel St Leonards.