A MAN who was killed in a collision with a car in Bromley town centre has been named as 73-year-old Gerard Melling.

Mr Melling, of Wendover Road, Bromley, was a cartoonist and illustrator for The Times, The Economist and Private Eye, known as Ged.

He was also an accomplished painter.

Born the son of a coalminer in Scotland in 1934, he was married and a father of three sons.

He first moved to London in 1959 after serving in the army in Berlin.

He studied at St Martin’s School of Art and became an art teacher at several secondary schools in the London area.

Ged’s first published cartoon appeared in Time Out in 1967.

He moved to Dublin and York before becoming a full-time professional cartoonist in 1984, working mainly for The Times and The Economist.

In later life he drew less and concentrated on painting in acrylic and emulsion on canvas.

An obituary in a national newspaper described him as “short in stature, bespectacled and with a grey goatee beard”.

It said: “He spoke with a strong Scottish accent and later in life often wore a broad-brimmed fedora hat. He was a kind and generous man with an impish sense of humour.”

Mr Melling was struck by a blue Mini Cooper in Tweedy Road on Sunday, October 28, at about 7pm.

He was taken to the Princess Royal University Hospital in Farnborough, where he died the next day from serious head injuries.The driver of the car was uninjured after the accident.An inquest was adjourned at Croydon Coroner’s Court to allow police more time to gather information.BLOBAnyone with any information should call the Met’s collision investigation team at Catford on 020 8285 1574.