FRIENDS and relatives of a cyclist killed on a busy road paid tribute to a “dedicated family man” and called for action to make the area safer.

Jacob Joseph, 39, was just metres from the care home where he worked when he and a car collided on the A415 Abingdon Road, near the Chequers pub in Burcot, at 9pm last Wednesday.

The father-of-one, from Lodden Avenue, Berinsfield, was crossing the road before starting his nightshift as a care worker at The Close care home.

Mr Joseph, who was also known as Saji, had come to Oxfordshire from Calicut in India in 2007 to join his wife Molamma, who was already working at the care home. The couple’s first child, daughter Dania, was born seven months ago.

A remembrance ceremony for Mr Joseph at St Anthony of Padua church in Headington, Oxford, on Sunday, was attended by about 800 people.

His funeral is set to take place in India on Thursday.

Mr Joseph’s brother Jojo, 34, from London, said: “He was courageous and always had a great sense of humour, but he knew when to be serious.

“We grew up together and went to the same schools and worked together.

“He was more than a brother to me, he was my best friend.”

Family friend and lodger Pauly Palamattom, 36, said Mr Joseph, who had three brothers and three sisters, was well-known among the small Indian community in Berinsfield.

He said: “His wife and daughter meant everything to him and it is a real tragedy in their family. He was very thoughtful and very religious – he was a Roman Catholic.

“Something needs to be done to draw attention to the road, like a pedestrian crossing or speed cameras.”

Nyms Sithole, the manager of The Close, said of Mr Joseph: “He was loved by the residents and staff and this has been a huge blow to the residents who knew him.”

Oxfordshire County Council spokesman Paul Smith said: “In the last five years on the A415 between the B4015 Oxford Road junction in Clifton Hampden and the Abingdon Road junction in Burcot there had only been two slight injury accidents — no serious, no fatals.

“Obviously, the fact that there has now been a fatal accident will lead to us keeping a close eye on the area.”

A man has been arrested in connection with the incident and bailed until May 1.

tairs@oxfordmail.co.uk