Harley escort on last journey

The riders were among friends and family of 47-year-old Cliff Smith saying a poignant farewell to the Uckfield biker who died in a car crash last week.

His death was a tragedy which his family believe should never have happened. His Fiat car was in collision with a Land Rover on a stretch of road in Kent which had been flooded with water from an underground stream which had then iced over.

When relatives went to lay flowers at the spot on the B2079 between Goudhurst and Marden they were told by a woman who lived nearby that there had been four accidents there the previous week.

Then at the funeral on Tuesday they heard that warning signs had been put up in the area. Widow Mrs Stella Smith said: 'If it was known there was an underground spring that iced over on the road to make it like a skating rink maybe somebody should have been monitoring it and closed the road.

Tragedy

'It is sad that it takes a tragedy like this before something is done.'

Mrs Smith described her husband as a 'salt of the earth' character. 'He was very well liked and respected by people in all walks of life. He could mix with anybody.'

The couple have two daughters Emma (28) and Laura (26) and one grandson Kieran (8), who was much loved by his grandad, according to mum Laura.

Mr Smith, of Ashdown Court, Vernon Road, worked for the Meat Hygiene Service. He was driving to work in Marden when the accident happened at 8.07am on Monday, February 3. He was prounounced dead at the scene and taken to the Kent and Sussex Hospital in Tunbridge Wells. An inquest was opened and adjourned on Friday.

The driver of the Land Rover who was heading in the opposite direction was not seriously hurt.

Mr Smith, who would have celebrated his 48th birthday on Wednesday, was a member of the Sussex Coasters Harley Davidson group. He owned two of the bikes himself and one of them, the 1972 Classic, was ridden to Holy Cross Church for the funeral by a friend.

Daughter Laura said: 'The funeral was fantastic, everybody said it was fabulous. It was a very personal service, a celebration of his life. He would have been very proud. We are now all feeling very numb. It is a tragedy that he was so young.'