Owner Of Segway Company Rides Segway Off Cliff And Dies

**taxexile** · 27-09-2010, 07:10 PM

Segway company owner dies riding two-wheeled machine off cliff

Jimi Heselden, the owner of the Segway company, has died after riding one of the two-wheeled machines off a cliff and into a river.

Published: 10:37AM BST 27 Sep 2010

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The former miner Jimi Heselden made his millions from defence contracts Photo: Jonathan Gawthorpe/rossparry.co.uk

A Segway being used in London Photo: Alex Segre/Alamy

The multi-millionaire businessman, 62, fell into the River Wharfe while inspecting the grounds of his North Yorkshire estate on a rugged country version of the Segway.

The Segway is a motorised scooter which use gyroscopes to remain upright and is controlled by the direction in which the rider leans.

A passer-by found Heselden alongside his Segway in the Boston Spa area at about 11.40am on Sunday.

A spokesman for West Yorkshire Police said today: "Police were called at 11.40am yesterday to reports of a man in the River Wharfe, apparently having fallen from the cliffs above.

"A Segway-style vehicle was recovered. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
"At this time we do not believe the death to be suspicious."

Heselden was worth £166m and ranked 395th on the Sunday Times Rich List.
The former miner made his millions from defence contracts. He created a unique portable wire cage water containment system which when filled with earth and sand proved a major defence against bullets, missiles and suicide attacks.
His founded his first company HESCO Bastions with his redundancy pay when he was laid off from the mines.

The wire cage systems developed by Bastions have become standard military equipment for Nato as well as American and British forces.

The Segway operation was acquired by a UK based company backed by Heselden.

daily telegraph uk.

**Davis Knowlton** · 27-09-2010, 07:23 PM

Sorry, but that thing looked pretty unstable.

**Airportwo** · 27-09-2010, 10:44 PM

^ he didn't think so!

**nigelandjan** · 28-09-2010, 12:11 AM

Thats bad PR if nothing else

**dirtydog** · 28-09-2010, 12:27 AM

Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton

Sorry, but that thing looked pretty unstable.

Probably his last words

**Tunaka** · 28-09-2010, 12:34 AM

Did he top himself off?

It's a message, if any is needed......

**crippen** · 28-09-2010, 06:36 AM

HESCO Bastion

Brilliant

Total failure in embedingation department.

**bobo746** · 28-09-2010, 07:04 AM

didn't he put brakes on that thing ???

**Probosci Akimbo** · 28-09-2010, 09:29 AM

Seems more like a case of bad eyesight, or judgment. The machines work well, better than you imagine, and he would have been as experienced as anyone on them. I think he just screwed up. RIP.

You can build a better mousetrap, but the human foctor is still there.
You still find people catching the fingers when they try to put in the cheese.

**APMann** · 28-09-2010, 11:38 AM

Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton

Sorry, but that thing looked pretty unstable.

Are you talking man or machine? I think he topped himself, so you could be right on both counts.

**Ascotkiwi** · 28-09-2010, 12:08 PM

does this classify Segway riding as an extreme sport?

**oldgit** · 28-09-2010, 05:12 PM

Perhaps he was testing the air brakes

**r1 pet** · 28-09-2010, 05:48 PM

never herd of him till he died,(good marketing ploy) now would love to have one for hooning round the village.

**VocalNeal** · 28-09-2010, 06:52 PM

Don't they go forward if you lean forward? Maybe he had a heart attack and slumped over the bars?

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