Three Men on a Bike initiative sees two men off a bike and hears calls for help

Simon Gilson and Terry Hope of PMT, who were hoping to take part on the October 6th leg of the Three Men on a Bike charity ride from Lands End to London, have been involved in an incident, seeing the pair crash their specially ordered tandem bicycle into road works in Southend town centre.

Eyewitnesses have described the crash as ‘a pot-hole incident’.

“It looks pretty grim,” said one of the ride’s organisers, Tim Walter, the MD of Roland UK. “We were all incredibly shocked when we heard about the accident. Simon and Terry have been backing this ride since its inception and I know just how hard they’ve been training to support us.

“We now urgently need people to donate money to help get them back on the road.”

The tandem, an Ammaco Twin-Twenty Six, purloined by the pair from a ‘local pal’ who apparently, ‘did them a deal’ is now in need of extensive repair if it is to make the 70 mile journey from Portsmouth to Eastbourne.

“The bike?” exclaimed a clearly distraught Gilson. “What about us? I don’t know if any of you have ever ridden a tandem, but it’s a horrible experience. Now we’re actually going to have to pay for it, so if you lot – especially the suppliers – don’t donate, we’re going to cancel all of our orders.”

Police were called to the incident and explained that the crash could have been very serious indeed – had it, in fact, actually happened.

“I still think the best thing to do would be to donate generously to the charity ride – or better still, get involved,” said PC Tel E Caster.

Those wishing to do so should visit the Just Giving pages here.

A growing number of supporters are backing the ride, including industry heavyweights Peavey, Yamaha, Sound Technology and JHS, as well as magazine publishers Future Publishing, Anthem Publishing and of course MI Pro. Three special fundraising events are planned along the route at Absolute Music (October 4th), Nevada Music (October 5th) and Bonners Music (October 6th) with special artist performances including 80s synth legend Howard Jones. The ride starts on October 1st.

Please get involved.