By Rebecca SheppardTHE father of a 23-year-old man who was killed in a road accident has spoken out about the dangers of motorcycling.Alex Fedida, a former Ipswich High School pupil, died in a crash in a London, one week after his 23rd birthday.

By Rebecca Sheppard

THE father of a 23-year-old man who was killed in a road accident has spoken out about the dangers of motorcycling.

Alex Fedida, a former Ipswich High School pupil, died in a crash in a London, one week after his 23rd birthday.

His father, Clive, said his son had lost control of his motorbike after trying to turn and go round the outside of a traffic jam in Hammersmith on September 26.

It had recently rained for the first time in a long while and it had been the rush-hour, which Mr Fedida described as "pretty fatal" conditions for bikers.

Although his son survived a collision with the car in front of him, he fell into the path of a car travelling in the opposite direction and later died from a heart attack in Charring Cross Hospital in London.

His father and mother, Diane, had tried to convince Alex out of buying a motorbike, but he had felt it was the easiest way to travel around the city.

Clive Fedida said: "We discouraged him not to have a bike, but he was very independently-minded. Everybody comes off a bike at some point. This was the first time he had come off it and the fact he died was just so unlucky.

"Bikes are lovely, though they can generate such tragedy. If speaking about Alex's death can influence somebody not to ride a bike, then it is worthwhile."

He added: "It is not the bikes that are the problem though, it is all the other things on the road that they do not stand a chance with.

"I do not want to stop people biking, but I do want them to think about the conditions that they are going out in. Young people think they will not crash. Everyone I know who rides a motorbike has fallen off. They suffered from cuts and bruises and walked away, but not my son."

Clive Fedida said his son, who was "born and bred" in Felixstowe, decided to leave Ipswich High School at the age of 15 as it "didn't work for him".

He then began teaching himself skills and became interested in computers. By the age of 16 his father, who worked for BT in Martlesham, got Alex a job in the company's IT department.

Soon after he moved to London and worked as a software writer and eventually set up his own business with friends.

"He had always wanted to be a self-made man. The company had its ups and downs but in the last month or so it was beginning to take off, which is the irony of the accident. He was coming home at the end of a good day to meet his friends and this happened," said Clive Fedida.

"His friends and the business are completely devastated. It is like a story where somebody has gone through some really bad times, but somehow made good and then bang.

"When someone dies so young you think of all the things that could have happened, all the things his life could have resulted in."

Alex Fedida was also a musician, playing the acoustic and bass guitar as well as the keyboard, and composing music by computer.

His father, who lives in Hertfordshire, said he would primarily remember his son's independent personality.

"He wanted to do things his way but he was also generous. He both inspired his friends and helped them. For someone that young to be remembered that way is remarkable," he added.

rebecca.sheppard@eadt.co.uk