A 20-YEAR-OLD man killed in a car crash was “like a brother” to his closest friends.

Joe Higgins, from Brighton, was driving his Volkswagen Golf in treacherous conditions along the B2112 near Ditchling on Sunday night when he smashed into a tree.

He died at the scene, where an abundance of flowers have been left alongside pictures of him and tributes.

Joe was on his way to friend Patrick Forster’s house near North Chailey when the tragedy happened.

It is believed he might have stopped at the Pyecombe service station and gone a different way to the route he usually took to get there, devastatingly leaving friends wondering “what if” he had gone a different way.

From the skid marks still visible in the road Joe’s friends believe he may have tried to dodge an animal and careered into the tree.

Patrick, 24, said: “He was literally like a brother to all of us. He was family.

“There wasn’t a bad word you could say about him.

“He was high on life and always the soul of the party.

“Everyone can say ‘it’s not your fault’ but I feel guilty. There are a lot of what ifs and questions we’ll never know the answers to. But Joe would never let you feel sorry for yourself – he’d want us to carry on.”

Joe was collecting a McDonald’s for friends and was going to take it to Patrick’s home.

Joe, from Patcham, studied at Cardinal Newman school and then underwent a carpentry course at Greater Brighton Metropolitan College (previously City College), and was working as a carpenter.

He had a burning passion for driving modified cars and would spend a lot of his time at Brighton Marina with other petrolheads – and that is how he met Patrick.

Friends also said he was “very family-orientated” and would do anything for his mother.

Patrick gathered with pals Lewis Higham, Nathan Gladding, Ellie Monnery and Ian Mooney at the crash scene last night. They held a send-off at Black Rock on Brighton seafront on Monday night which about 50 people attended.

Joe, the group said, was an extremely generous man with a good sense of humour who would try to help friends in any way he could – and never expected anything in return.

Lewis, 18, said: “You could go out for breakfast with him and it would be the funniest morning of your life. He was such a joker.”

Ellie, 20, added: “He was the most supportive one out of all of us and this is when we need him most.”

The group had a message for other motorists, too. They said: “Enjoy yourself driving, just be careful.”

Anyone with information about the crash should call police on 101 quoting Operation Stanbridge.