Finnebrogue Co Down: Widow of entrepreneur Denis Lynn calls for roll bars on quad bikes - which she believes would have saved his life

Mr Lynn was the founder and chairman of Finnebrogue, one of the UK’s leading food producers. A family-owned business based in Northern Ireland, Finnebrogue supplies all UK supermarkets and employs 1200 people at its base in Downpatrick, County Down.

He was named the UK’s most innovative businessman by the Institute of Directors in 2019. He died in May 2021, when he was crushed by his quad bike after it rolled over while travelling at low speed.

Now his widow Christine Lynn has written to UK transport secretary Mark Harper and authorities in Belfast calling for quad bike safety rules to keep pace with Australia, where roll bars are now a legal requirement.

Christine Lynn said: “My late husband Denis, a regular user of a quad bike on our Finnebrogue estate, died in May 2021 following an accident at low speed. I now deem it my responsibility to do what I can to stop an accident like this happening again to another family."

She added: “I have been shocked to learn of the number of other similar accidents on quad bikes. I have also been shocked to learn the UK has slipped behind other developed nations such as Australia, where roll bars are mandatory on quad bikes. If there were roll bars on Denis’s bike, he would still be with us. It also seems scandalous that anybody can ride a quad bike off road without a licence - and that in England, Scotland and Wales you don’t have to wear a helmet."

She said that Australia’s Quad Bike Safety Standard came into effect after a long-fought campaign by a coalition of rural voices, including the National Farmers Federation, the Royal Flying Doctor Service and the Country Women's Association.

On Australian farms two thirds of fatalities were caused by quad bikes rolling onto the rider, she said, citing the Australia Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC). However, since roll bars became mandatory in 2021, the ACCC says compliance in 2022 was at 94%.