King Tree

Margaret
m. RAF Henlow nr Welwyn Garden City

Badminton Road,
Old Sodbury
Nr. Bristol
Avon BS17
School at Blundell's

THE family of a rugby fan and charity fundraiser who died after being in collision with a car in Old Sodbury has described him as ‘a great man’.

Sixty-five-year-old David Warren was in collision with a car outside The Bell, on Badminton Road, on Sunday evening. He had been enjoying Sunday lunch with his wife Margaret and a group of friends to celebrate the pub’s reopening under new owners that day and was walking to his home nearby.

Mr Warren’s wife and three children Jamie, Rupert and Kate said: "He was a great husband, dad and grandpa who was very much loved.

"He was an amazing role model and will be sorely missed by everybody who knew him. He was a great man."

Mr Warren and his wife had previously owned and run Sodbury House Hotel, also on Badminton Road.

Receptionist Julia Howling, who was employed by the couple, said he was a ‘very kind’ man.

"He was a true gentleman," she said. "He was very kind and treated his staff well. He was a very nice person to work for and it is such a shock to all of us."

Mr Warren, a grandfather of three, was originally from Wiveliscombe in Somerset but had lived in the Sodbury area for 20 years. He played squash once a week and was a passionate fan of Bath Rugby.

In the past three months, he had become a volunteer fundraiser for Macmillan Cancer Support.

Area fundraising manager Anna Cairns said: "David was already working so hard for us and had managed to get us so many contacts. For example, he had already got us a signed Bristol City shirt for a fair on Saturday.

"We are all really shocked and sad. It is a real loss to the fundraising team."

The accident happened at 8.40pm and customers at the pub, including a nurse, rushed outside and another nurse on her way home from work at a nearby hospital also stopped to help.

The Bell landlord Greg Gale told the Gazette: "Everyone did all they could and I have to pay tribute to those people and the emergency services."

He said Mr Warren was a customer at The Squire Inn, in Chipping Sodbury which Mr Gale also runs, and had been keen to see The Bell reopen.

"He had been inquiring how we were getting on and wished us well," said Mr Gale. "He had wanted to come to celebrate the opening and had been in for lunch with his family.

"He was very nice and polite. It is shocking."

Mr Gale called for a speed camera to be installed on the road.

"It is such a dangerous road," he said. "There are so many places where speed cameras are not needed but this road could genuinely benefit from one."

A police spokeswoman said: "Police are appealing for witnesses and information following a single-car road traffic collision.

"At around 8.45pm on Sunday, November 14, a group of people were walking down the Badminton Road in Old Sodbury when one of the pedestrians collided with a car close to The Bell public house.

"A 65-year-old man died as a result of injuries he sustained."

Police are appealing to anyone who witnessed the crash to contact the collision investigation unit on 0845 456 7000.