BIKE BOSS SHRUGS OFF THE BREXIT ‘MOMENTUM OF FEAR’

The Brompton bike was designed in 1975

Full-time production started in Brentford, London, in 1988

A Brompton bike was ridden at the South Pole in 2003

The company now employs 240 people at its factory in Greenford, London It makes more than 45,000 bikes a year They are sold in 45 countries Sales totalled £28.4m last year

THE boss of Britain’s biggest bicyclemaker has warned the anti-Brexit campaign is causing small businesses to panic and damaging the economy.

Brompton Bicycle’s managing director Will Butler-Adams ( pictured) claimed firms would be able to cope if Britain left the European Union without a trade deal, which would see exports to the Continent face tariffs of 10pc under World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules.

Butler-Adams, 43, said: ‘The debate about Brexit is massively over-rated, and half of the problem is we’re spending so much time debating it that we’re creating a momentum of fear.’

He added that Brompton, which specialises in fold-up bikes, is used to dealing with 30pc tariffs in China and steep duties in nations such as Japan, and that this was just a normal part of exporting. He said: ‘For businesses which are small, a change in 10pc for WTO rules is virtually irrelevant.

‘What will make a difference for a business succeeding or failing is its staff, its vision and its ambition.

‘I don’t see Brexit as a massive disaster. Personally, I’m rather sad we’re leaving but, crucially, we will get on.’