A LOVING tribute has been paid to a ‘precious and much-loved’ son who died just days before Christmas in a crash.

John Paul Buckland, from Darwen, suffered serious injuries when the Honda moped he was riding was involved in a crash with a Toyota Prius.

He was rushed to hospital following the accident, which occurred on Preston Old Road just before 10pm on December 16, but died the following morning.

In a statement Mr Buckland’s parents said: “John Paul was our precious son, and much-loved brother and uncle.

“He was a hard-working young man who was enjoying life. He loved riding his moped and it gave him his independence.

“He was a private chap who was looking forward to the Christmas festivities. He has been taken away from us and will be missed so much by us all.”

The driver of the Prius was not injured and stopped at the scene.

Sgt Marc Glass, of the Serious Collision Investigation Unit, said: “My thoughts are very much with John Paul’s family at this extremely difficult time.

“We are continuing to work to establish the full circumstances of what occurred and I would ask anyone with information or dashcam footage which could assist our investigation to contact the police as soon as possible.”

Anyone with information is asked to call police on 101, quoting log 1491 of December 16, 2021.