BIKE STUNT CRASH INVESTIGATED
Police are investigating an accident involving a motorbike display team at the Great Orme Llandudno stage of Wales Rally GB last Sunday.
A child, reportedly seven years old, was airlifted to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool with serious injuries. The display was taking place ahead of the final stage of Britain’s round of the World Rally Championship in Llandudno town centre.
The start of the stage was delayed by two hours and there were no champagne celebrations on the podium which followed on the sea front.
Rally GB managing director Ben Taylor told MN: “It’s a desperately sad situation to have an accident like this happen. All of our thoughts are, naturally, with the child and his family.
“The display team is one we’ve used for a long time, we know them all well – they were performing for us at the Tir Prince stage on Thursday night.”
Taylor went on to praise the work of his team in Llandudno, both on the initial set-up of the stage and the reaction to the accident.
“In an incident like this, we have a strict protocol to follow,” added Taylor. “While it had little to do with the rally itself, the police informed us we wouldn’t be using that stretch of road due to their investigation. So, in close liaison with the police, we put together a new route and got the stage running.
“So many people have put so much work in all year to make this event happen. We closed the road in Llandudno at 1400hrs on Saturday afternoon and people worked all night to create this unbelievable stage.
“After the accident, the team had the reroute down and a new finish in place in under an hour – that’s just amazing. I’ve been bowled over by the commitment this bunch of people have put in to make Llandudno what it was, but, right now, it’s difficult to focus on that.”