By Annie DavidsonA MOTORCYCLIST who was killed in a road accident was on his last ride of the year before selling his bike, his family said.Paul Tidey, 21, died at the scene of the crash next to Earls Colne airfield on Sunday afternoon after hitting a number of concrete posts.

By Annie Davidson

A MOTORCYCLIST who was killed in a road accident was on his last ride of the year before selling his bike, his family said.

Paul Tidey, 21, died at the scene of the crash next to Earls Colne airfield on Sunday afternoon after hitting a number of concrete posts.

His devastated family paid tribute last night to their “special, loving and caring” son and brother.

His sisters, Dawn and Jackie Tidey and Jo Sharp, said their brother had been mad about motorbikes since he was a little boy, but had been a careful rider.

The former Stanway School pupil was riding a Ducati 748 motorcycle that he had bought in May and was out with his best friend, Mike Rayner, when the accident happened.

Mr Tidey's mother, Pauline Barrett, 56, said her son had been round to see her on Sunday before going out.

“He came round and got his boots and said he was going out for a couple of hours and then he was going to park his bike up for the winter and he might sell it. It was meant to be his last ride. That's what is so tragic about it,” she added.

Mr Tidey's family said he never rode his motorbike during the winter and would often sell it and buy a new one the following year.

Mr Rayner added: “He was going to cancel his insurance on Monday. He was a good rider, he knew what he was doing. He wasn't stupid and he wasn't new to it.”

Mr Tidey, a bricklayer, and Mr Rayner went to the same primary and secondary schools, but first met at playschool. “We fought over the three-wheeler even back then,” he recalled.

The pair moved into a flat together in Braithwaite Drive, Mile End, Colchester, eight months ago and went to Magaluf this summer and last summer with a large group of friends.

They were due to book a snowboarding holiday in France this Saturday for early next year, but Mr Rayner said he was not sure now whether he would go.

Mrs Sharp said she would always remember her brother's laugh. “It was just so lovely, it was a real chuckle like when he was a baby. When he was round mine for dinner he was just laughing like that for two hours, it was amazing,” she added.

Mr Tidey was close to his nieces, Casey Sharp, four, Becky Munson, seven, and his nephew, Billy Munson, nine.

His sister Jackie Tidey, 33, said it had been “very hard” breaking the news to them, but they had accepted it and told her that Mr Tidey was in heaven looking down on them.

Mr Rayner and Dawn Tidey's partner Lee Ball said they had been put off motorcycling.

But Dawn, 24, said her brother would have been angry for them not to continue riding. “He would have wanted them to carry on as before,” she added.

Mr Tidey had worked as a bricklayer since leaving school and recently gained his formal qualification.

Mr Ball said: “He wanted to work hard to one day have the ultimate dream to join a race team and go to track days.”

Mr Tidey's close friend, Gavin Taylor, 20, died a year ago in September after a motorbike accident in Spain and Mrs Barrett, of Gryme's Dyke Way, Stanway, said her son rode his bike carefully out of respect for his friend.

She added her husband, Michael, had known Mr Tidey since he was aged 15 and loved him like his own son.

Mr Tidey's father, Edward, who lives in Kent, has been left “devastated” by his son's death.

Paul Tidey's funeral will be next Wednesday at Colchester Crematorium at 11.45am.

All friends are welcome at the service, which will be a celebration of his life. Flowers can be sent or donations made to the Essex Air Ambulance.

annie.davidson@eadt.co.uk