An 11-year-old boy has paid a moving tribute to his father who was killed in a motorcycle accident.

Jack Surgey told how he had seen father Grant just hours before the crash and said: "He was a great dad".

Mr Surgey, 43, of Bolney Road, Ansty, died when his Honda motorbike collided with a car on the A29 Stane Street at Slinfold, near Horsham at around 7.10pm on Sunday night.

The driver of the car, Scott Swanson, 18, of Coombe Road, Southminster, Essex, was also killed and two male passengers were injured.

Yesterday Jack, described by a family friend as a "mini-Grant", spoke about seeing his father for the last time.

The pair had gone to the Brightona motorcycle show in Madeira Drive, Brighton, on Sunday morning.

Later that afternoon Mr Surgey, who is estranged from his wife Julie, the mother of his two children Jack and Melissa, 16, dropped his son back home at her house in Orchard Road, Burgess Hill, and went off to meet friends for an evening ride.

Tragically, just hours later, he was dead.

Jack said: "I will always remember him as a keen biker. I loved riding on his bike with him.

"I think that his dream for me was to follow in his footsteps and be a biker.

"He was a larger-than-life person and I think the most important things in his life were his family, his friends and his bike, of course.

"He was a great dad."

Originally a surgical shoe maker, Mr Surgey, who grew up in Newcastle, combined his skill with leather and passion for motorbikes by opening a bike and car upholstery trimming company in Haywards Heath called Surtrim.

Linda Bacon, 43, Mr Surgey's girlfriend of almost four years and who took up a job at his workshop after they got together, said he had a passion for eagles and had a large tattoo of one across his back.

Ms Bacon, of Saxon Crescent, Horsham, said he was known amongst his biker friends as Bald Eagle.

She said he had helped her buy her first motorbike, had been with her when she took her riding test and that they had ridden thousands of miles together over the years.

She said: "Grant was so much fun. He was everything to me - my boyfriend, my biker-buddy, my boss, my eagle.

"He was basically my whole life, apart from my son Matt, who adored him.

"No-one else is going to be able to fill his boots.

"He always said there were two types of people in the world - the whys and the why nots - and we were the why nots who were always up for a suggestion of somewhere to go or something to do.

"He thought life was for living and made sure that's what he did but he was also 100 per cent safe on his bike and wouldn't do anything dangerous."

Mr Surgey's best friend Martin Wright, who lives in Bracklesham near Chichester, had been in the group riding with Mr Surgey on the night he died.

He said that seven of them had met up at the Buck Barn crossroads on the A24 at 5.30pm.

From there they took the A272 to Billingshurst, then on to Petworth, Midhurst, West Meon and Guildford before turning back.

On the way home Mr Surgey turned off Guildford Road with one of the bikers to return to the man's house in Slinfold to pick up some DVDs.

Martin said he still couldn't believe that just seconds after the group split up, his friend was dead.

He described Mr Surgey as a "very competent rider" who would never take risks on the road.

Together they had made several trips to the famously-challenging Nurburgring in Germany, most recently this summer.

Martin said: "I have ridden with Grant for 12 years and there wasn't much he didn't know about bikes.

"He knew what he was doing and was a safe rider who respected the road.

"He was 6ft 5ins but a gentle giant who always had time for everyone."

Husband and wife Tony and Suzanne Mace, with whom Mr Surgey lodged for four years in Bolney Road, Ansty, after he split with his wife, described him as a "perfect lodger".

Suzanne said: "We got to know him very well over the years. He was a lovely man who did a lot for his kids and was a very responsible person.

"He had a powerful bike but he used it sensibly."

No funeral arrangements have yet been made but Martin said a motorcycle cortege and a sidecar hearse were among the plans.

One wish Mr Surgey had made clear before his death was that no-one was to wear black at his funeral, unless they were dressed in motorcycle leathers.

Police are appealing for witnesses to the accident and have asked anyone with information to call the road policing unit at Haywards Heath on 0845 60 70 999.