Police Name County Durham Bike Crash Death Victim

23 April 2012, 05:18 | Updated: 30 March 2016, 13:50

A father of two died after coming off his motorbike on the A68 near West Auckland.

48 year old Leslie Ballard from Barington Meadows, Bishop Auckland wa son his way home from work at Fablink engineering site in Evenwood when he came off his bike and suffered fatal injuries.

He came off his Kawasaki bike and collided with a telegraph pole as he attempted to overtake two other vehicles on the road between West Auckland and High Etherly.

It happened on Thursday 19th April at 5:10pm

Lesley, who was known as Les by friends and family, had been married to his wife, Debbie for more than 28 years and leaves a daughter, Emma, aged 24 and a son, 21-year-old Jason. He was also a grandfather to Jason's daughter, 17-months old Faith.

Bishop Auckland-born and bred, Mr Ballard trained and qualified as an engineer with British Rail before moving some years ago to Fablink; he had recently been promoted to the post of head of quality with the company.

Outside of work he used to be a coach with the South Durham Gymnastics Club.

Police are appealing for any witnesses to the accident, which happened at 1710hrs on Thursday to contact the collision investigation unit on 0191 375 2159.