FLAGS were flown at half-mast at factories around the world yesterday after the boss of an engineering company was killed in a road accident.

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

The vehicle was found in a field by a workman and Mr Brown was pronounced dead at the scene.

Mr Brown was the chairman of Multidrive, an engineering company that designs and manufactures a wide range of 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, North Yorkshire. 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 the US all paid tribute to Mr Brown yesterday by lowering their flags.

Mr Brown's two sons and two daughters are said to be devastated by the sudden loss of their father.

Last night, Multidrive managing director Chris Chambers said Mr Brown would be sorely missed.

Mr Chambers said: "David Brown was energetic, very interesting, hugely experienced and an entrepreneur, who in my opinion, carried people with him.

"He had the ability to see well forward and make sure that people knew exactly where they were going.

"He was an engineer of the highest calibre and I think I would be right in saying that every person he met had enormous respect for him.

"The real interest in his life was engineering, through and through, and particularly vehicle-related engineering, so he was very actively involved in the company.

"It was his energy and entrepreneurial spirit that invited so much time into the research and development phase of our products."