Tragic road accident mars LE JOG

Welsh police to enquire if driver fatigue was to blame for fatal crash

An accident on LE JOG claimed the life of Graham Brasier when his 1959 Volkswagen-Okrasa collided with a tree on a link section at Llanfrynach, near Brecon in Wales.

The 68-year-old Cornishman was taken to Abergavenny’s Neville Hall Hospital but died in the early hours of Sunday December 5.

His navigator Dennis Greenslade was treated for a foot injury but was allowed home the following day.

Brasier had just left the Magor Services rest halt on Saturday evening, the first day of the Land’s End-to-John O’Groats Classic Reliability Trial, when the accident happened on a main road. This section did not form part of the competitive event.

But Inspector Eric Bailey from Dyfed-Powys Police is reported as saying that he would be investigating whether driver fatigue had played any part in the accident. Both Brasier and Greenslade (63) had a lot of competition experience and had contested the same event in 2003, when they retired.

LE JOG, which had started from Land’s End that morning, continued to its scheduled John O’Groats finish on Tuesday morning, following overnight halts in Chester and Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

Because the accident will be the subject of an inquest, the Historic Endurance Rally Organisation was unable to comment further.

This was the first serious crash in the event’s 10-year history.

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Graham Brasier

From Tywardreath Pa, Brasier was a respected competitor across a spectrum of grass roots motorsport. As well as events like LE JOG. he was a regular competitor in Classic Trials.

“He was incredibly popular, everybody knew him and he was involved in the sport from every angle,” said Joanna Brown of HERO.

To his family and many friends, Motor Sport offers sincere condolences.