FLAGS were flying at half mast above factories across the globe for the chairman of an engineering company killed in a road accident.

David Brown, 78, was killed last Wednesday when the Range Rover he was driving skidded off a snow-covered private road at his home, Ravensthorpe Manor, near Boltby.

The vehicle overturned and ended up in a field.

Mr Brown was the chairman of Multidrive, which designs and manufactures off-road heavy haulage vehicles for military and commercial contracts.

He set up the company in 1983 as a division of the Brown Group of companies, all of which specialised in making off-road heavy haulage vehicles.

The companies were sold to Caterpillar in 1996, with the exception of Multidrive, which is based in Thirsk.

In 2002 Multidrive won a contract from the Ministry of Defence to design and develop a six-wheel, nine-tonne electric off-road cargo truck to be used in military situations.

Caterpillar workers in Stockton, Peterlee, South Africa, Europe and America all paid tribute to Mr Brown by lowering their flags to half mast.

Mr Brown leaves two sons and two daughters.