TRIBUTES have been paid today to a “kind-hearted” 83-year-old former lorry driver who died after his car hit a lamp-post.

Terry Tovell, of Coronation Drive, Felixstowe, had gone out to give a friend a lift to a hospital appointment when his Honda left the road.

The accident happened in Mill Lane, Felixstowe, on Tuesday at 9.40am and police, firefighters and ambulance officers attended the scene.

Emergency services sealed off the road while paramedics tried to resuscitate him.

He was pronounced dead at the scene.

His widow Nancy, 81, said he was a “very kind-hearted man”, a really nice person, quiet and patient.

“He was not really a sociable man, but he was lovely and he loved his model making, and tinkering with cars and motorcycles,” she said.

The couple, who were married 59 years, had met in Egypt while she was serving in the NAAFI and he was in the army, and they married in Cyprus.

During his 12 years in the forces, they lived in London, Ripon, Malaya, Germany and Aldershot before he was demobbed and they returned to Suffolk, where he was born.

They lived at Saxmundham and eventually moved Felixstowe when he got a driving job with a firm based at the port.

Mr Tovell, who had overcome leukaemia, was a stock car driver in his younger days, and a talented model maker, often making and selling models of all kinds.

A post mortem held yesterday found that he died from natural causes. An inquest will not be held.