‘Absolute character’: Brisbane man killed while changing tyre identified as Australian speed skating champ

A Brisbane man killed while changing a tyre on his ute on a Bruce Highway off-ramp on the Sunshine Coast has been identified as an Australian speed skating legend and “absolute character”.

A Brisbane man, tragically killed while changing a tyre on his ute on a motorway off-ramp, has been identified as Neville Meikle an Australian speed skating representative and “absolute character”.

A friend, Hadyn Butler, said he used to skate with “Nifty” at Skateway Mount Gravatt, a “huge social hub” in the late 70s and 80s.

Mr Butler said “Nifty” was a “larger than life, all Aussie, absolute character”.

A 59-year-0ld man was understood to have been changing a tyre on his ute when he was hit by a car.

“Nifty was never short of a story and didn’t mind the occasional beer! A top notch transmission specialist but also the ultimate bush mechanic – if you were broken down in the middle of nowhere he would wander off and come back with a length of barbed wire and a soft drink can and somehow get the car running,” Mr Butler said.

“(He) was a world traveller … but when you least expected to see him somewhere – he would turn upfront and centre.”

Mr Butler said Nifty will be “greatly missed” by his mates, friends and family.

Another friend, Chris Crassweller, said he knew Mr Miekle during their “roller skating days” in the late 1970s.

“We would train a lot together – he was a natural speed skater and a joker who was well liked,” he said.

The scene of Saturday evening's fatal crash at Tanawha.

Mr Crassweller said Mr Miekle has his own gearbox business and was a mechanic by trade.

“He will be missed by all of us – the crazy thing he work around cars all his life,” he said.

Initial police investigations suggested the East Brisbane man had been changing a tyre on his ute on the side of the Sunshine Motorway at Tanawha when he was allegedly hit by a car just before 5pm Saturday, May 14, 2022.

The incident happened on the Sunshine Motorway off-ramp of the Bruce Highway headed towards Sippy Downs which runs underneath the Bruce Highway overpass.

An 18-year-old woman alleged to have been driving the car involved was not injured in the crash.

Ambulance officers including critical care paramedics rushed the man to Sunshine Coast University Hospital with critical chest injuries but a Queensland Ambulance Service spokeswoman confirmed the man died at hospital.

Forensic Crash Unit investigators have appealed for anyone who witnessed the incident or had captured footage of the crash or of a red ute parked on the side of the Sunshine Motorway to contact police immediately.

It comes after two young mechanics, Lleyton Bartlett, 22 and Aaron Pitt, 25 died after they were allegedly struck by a car on the side of Nambour Connection Rd, Woombye, while they worked to repair a broken-down bus on April 21.

• The original version of this article incorrectly included a photograph of a man who was not the subject of the article. The Courier-Mail sincerely apologises for the error.