A FAMILY is trying to come to terms with the loss a motorcyclist killed less than a week before his eighteenth birthday.

Richard Hayton, of Loose Road, Maidstone, died from multiple injuries when his bike crashed less than a third of a mile away from his home.

A shrine of flowers and personal tributes sit alongside police chalk marks at the spot just yards away from Maidstone Fire Station where tragedy struck at 11.30pm last Friday.

His father, Robert, and older brother Matthew, paid tribute to an "independent young man" who had everything to live for.

Mr Hayton said: "He had a great sense of humour and an individual look on life but always cared about his friends and family deeply.

"He was happy and content. Everything was going right for him and he didn't have a care in the world. We will miss him and cannot believe he is longer around. His death has left a huge void in our lives that will never be filled."

Richard, a former student at Maidstone Grammar School, was in the final year of a BTEC national diploma in motor vehicle studies at Mid-Kent College at Oakwood Park, Maidstone.

An apprenticeship at the Rootes Peugeot dealership would have been waiting for him on completion of the course in July.