A chauffeur for the controversual owners of Blackburn Rovers has died of a suspected heart attack as he waited for his clients.
Marc Smith, 42, who was born in Bamber Bridge, had been stood next to one of his executive vehicles having driven members of the Rao family to the club’s Ewood Park stadium for their 3-1 defeat to Peterborough United on Saturday.
He collapsed and was taken to Royal Blackburn Hospital where he died a short time later.
The father-of-one worked for the family, who own Indian food giant, Venky’s, through his Chauffeur2Go executive hire business, which also saw him provide vehicles for celebrities at major events across Britain.
A number of people paid tribute to the driver, who had recently moved to Cumbria, on social networking site, Twitter.
Celebrity chef Paul Heathcote tweeted: “So very sad to hear the news of Marc @chauffeur2go my thoughts and all my team @HeathcotesBrass @OlivePressUK are with his family.”
Michael Finnigan, the New Longton-based owner of coaching firm i2i, added: “He drove me just last week and seemed very happy with his life. So sorry.”
Last week, Mr Smith had been driving Prince Turki Al-Faisal, a member of the Saudi royal family, during a visit to Blackburn.
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