A TEENAGE driver who died in hospital after his car left the road and crashed into a tree has been named by Kent Police.

He was 17-year-old Kenley Porter, who lived at Hawthorne Close, Eythorne, near Dover. He was a former pupil at Archers Court School in Dover.

His blue Ford Mondeo hit a tree on the Pike Road Industrial Estate at Tilmanstone on Sunday. He was taken to hospital in Margate by the Kent air ambulance but later died from his injuries.

Evelyn Porter, Kenley’s 78-year-old grandmother, said: “It’s so sad. He was my only grandchild.”

Paying tribute to Kenley, former Archers Court School history teacher Saul Webster, said: “He was a nice, well-known boy. He was quiet but very pleasant and friendly. He never got into bother and I’m sure he would have done well in life.”

Mr Webster, who retired in the summer after 29 years at the school, added “It’s devastating. In my lifetime I must have been to a dozen funerals of pupils who have died from a car accident of some kind.”

A back-seat passenger in the car, Stephen Howe, 17, from Elvington, was also taken to the hospital with serious head injuries and later transferred to Kings College Hospital, London. His condition has been described as stable.

An 18-year-old woman from Eastry was in the front passenger seat and was taken to QEQM with leg injuries. She had not been named.

Kenley and the woman were trapped in the front for some time while crews cut them free.

* Anyone who witnessed the collision or saw the Mondeo prior to it, is asked to contact the police witness line on 01622 600970.

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