Donation to hospital after death of biker
THE memory of a much-loved motorcyclist who was killed in a horror crash will live on, thanks to a generous donation to a Glasgow hospital from the man who caused his death.
George Kelly lost his life when he suffered fatal injuries on the A82 in July 2019 while on the way to meet his wife Diane.
The tragedy left loved ones devastated and, in November last year, a Hungarian national – Geza Istvan Fejervary – pleaded guilty to causing his death.
In an unusual move, the court asked Diane if she would prefer to see Fejervary pay a fine to the Crown or make a substantial donation to a charity of her choice.
She agreed that he should make a £3500 payment to the Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre, where George was treated for throat cancer in 2016.
“I feel as if I have done a nice thing out of a bad thing and hopefully helping other people with something that went wrong in our life,” Diane, 55, said.
“I choose the Beatson because George was given such good care during his time there. In fact, he would have been four years clear just earlier this month.
“He thought it was amazing when he was going through his cancer treatment and we had already donated all money we had made at his funeral to the Beatson.
“People have asked why I didn’t want the guy to be in jail but it’s because of George. He was never a vindictive
character. He would have been your best pal if you met him.
“That’s the kind of guy he was.”
George, from Renfrewshire, was on his way to meet Diane in Tarbert – where the couple kept a boat – when his bike collided with a Skoda estate car being driven by Fejervary on the A82, near Inverbeg. The great-grandfather died at the scene.
Fejervary, 69, was later disqualified from holding or obtaining a driving licence within the UK for a period of 12 months after his case called at Dumbarton Sheriff Court. He was thereafter admonished.
“He’ll be 70 this year and so would George,” Diane added. “There was actually only two days between their birthdays and I was thinking how it would have been if it had been us in that position.
“He wrote me a personal letter telling me how he felt and that he knows he has to live with it for the rest of his life.”
An electrical engineer by trade, George, who lived in Kilbarchan with Diane, was a well-known face in Renfrewshire, previously owning a garage in Johnstone.
A father-of-three, to Mandi, Michelle, and a late-son Jason, he was also a keen
musician and played in bands across Scotland. He had been married to Diane since 2010, after tying the knot in a secret ceremony in America.
Such was his love for motorcycling, more than 60 bikers from across Scotland turned out to form a guard of honour at his funeral in Paisley.
“I just thought he’s an old man who made a stupid mistake and anyone could have done that,” Diane, who donned her wedding dress for George’s send-off, said.
“He wasn’t a drunk driver or anything like that. If you’ve ever been abroad, it’s so easy to do that.
“That’s the way George would have thought about it.
“We used to drive Europe in the motorbikes and he always used to say it was even harder because there was no steering wheel on the wrong side!
“George didn’t have a bad bone in his body and he would have really liked that.
“Any of his friends I have spoken to have had the same feeling and believe it’s the same thing he would have done himself.
“It’s made me feel lighter doing this and I don’t think putting an old man in jail would have given me any closure.”