Bike Racer Dies Intoxicated with Barbecue Fumes

The son of classic racing legend Bill Swallow died after inhaling fatal fumes from a barbecue in his sleep. David Swallow, 29, was sleeping in the back of his van next to a smouldering portable barbecue that was meant to keep him warm, The Daily Mail reports.

His father, who was sleeping in another van, was the one who found David unconscious.

The father and son had been at the Bob McIntyre Memorial Classic Races 2010, at East Fortune Aerodrome Raceway, East Lothian, on June 20, when the incident happened.

Though David was immediately taken to the hospital, he had severe brain damage and died four days later.

“When we came back it had got a bit chilly and the barbecue was just outside with a bit of heat in it. We put it in the back of David’s van and sat round it to keep warm. We’d decided to stay on the circuit, so David was sleeping in his van, I was sleeping in mine,” Bill Swallow was quoted as saying by the aforementioned source.

Doctors conducted tests and found high levels of carbon monoxide in David's blood.

“We were told that David fell into a deep sleep after we left and there was just enough of the barbecue still going that it was giving off carbon monoxide for the first hour or so while he was asleep,” Swallow added.

David's funeral is due to be held tomorrow, July 9. "He was a lovely lad, didn't have a bad side to him at all. He was a lovely, lovely boy," Bill Swallow said as a tribute to his son.