TRIBUTES have been paid to Wellington family man and businessman Simon Lane, who died last week in a road traffic collision on the A38 near the Beambridge Inn.

Simon, 54, was married with two daughters. He was born and raised in Cheddar before going on to study industrial model making in Kent, where he met his wife at the age of 19. They went on to live in Wellington for the past 32 years.

Simon set up Bulldog Buckle Company after moving back to the South-West, designing and producing promotional merchandise for artists including Madonna, Queen and Take That.

He was also involved with the On Your Bike charity in Taunton and worked with schools encouraging young people to pursue their dreams.

In recent years, his passion lay with property development, leading him to set up Stopwatch Property. Co-director Sam Elliot-Smith said Simon was a ‘real people person’ and added: “Simon was a talented and creative property entrepreneur, inspiring and influencing the lives of everyone he met and worked with.”

In his free time, Simon loved sea-fishing, sculpting and woodwork, hockey and spending time with family and friends. One particular highlight of his woodworking is that he carved a Rocking Zebra for the Rajkot Children’s Doll Museum in India.

Simon was involved with Fox’s Hockey Club in Wellington and also played for Taunton. Wellington Club chairman Marc Box said: “Simon was one of the founding members of the club. Although he hadn’t played for a while due to work commitments – and injury – he would always ask how the club was progressing, show interest in the junior section particularly and make suggestions how we could drive the club forward.”

Simon’s family would like to thank everyone for their kind words, thoughts, cards, flowers and support at this very difficult time.

The funeral will be held on Monday, October 28, further information to follow.

Avon and Somerset Police are appealing for witnesses to the crash, which happened on Tuesday, October 8, at about 1pm. Anyone with dashcam footage of the collision is also asked to come forward. Anyone with information should call police on 101 quoting reference 0445 of October 8.