Flying hotel owner tycoon fined
Kieth Richardson 76, the owner of the Richardson Hotels group whose properties include The Fowey Hotel in Fowey, The Metropole in Padstow and the Grand Hotel and The Grosvenor hotel in Torquay, who travels between his hotels by helicopter has been fined £3, 000.00 and costs of £1,104 by the Bodmin magistrates court in Truro, after the blades of his aircraft blew a parasol into one of his guests.
He had pleaded not guilty, negligently causing an aircraft to endanger a person after the powerful downdraft sent a parasol flying across the grounds and into a 16 year old girl and her family, a hotel guest and injured him, when taking off from his Falmouth, Cornwall premises. The girl was taken to hospital and had an x-ray but was found to be fine.
A family were sitting on the balcony at the time on 19th August 2014, and the draft from the running propellers launched the parasol into the air injuring their daughter.
A spokesperson for the Civil Aviation Authority, said: “We take very seriously the safety of the general public and will take action where necessary against any pilot breaking the law.
The Torquay millionaire considered himself lucky to escape after a helicopter he was piloting crashed last week, when the two-seater helicopter crashed upside down while landing at Gideligh Park Hotel, near Chagford, both him and his wife was injured.