The grieving parents of 16-year-old motorbike crash victim David Allen have spoken of their shock following the death of their youngest son.

David Allen

Linda and Arthur Allen, of Spencer Crescent, Rose Hill, said life would never be the same again after the accident in Long Lane, Littlemore, on Saturday night (November 20).

David, who they called their "free spirit", was renowned for being home late, so they were not worried when he failed to return home at 10.30pm.

Mr and Mrs Allen had informed police officers -- in Spencer Crescent investigating the death of a man found dead in a car -- they were expecting their son home.

When officers heard about the motorcycle accident nearby they asked for a description of David, a former Peers School pupil known as 'Little Bill' to his friends, and broke the bad news.

"When they told us we just couldn't believe it," said Mrs Allen, 51, a housewife and mother of six.

"I don't know how we're coping, we just are."

Police are not yet certain how David died, but it is thought his bike hit a traffic barrier. Paramedics treated the teenager for serious injuries and took him to the John Radcliffe Hospital, but he could not be saved.

Mr Allen, a 42-year-old bus driver, said: "A large part of me has died with David. We are totally gutted.

"It's not right to have to bury a child. He was the baby of the family and was always giving me cheek and having a joke. He was full of life, you couldn't hold him back. Having to tell the family was the hardest thing I've ever had to do."

Mr Allen had bought his son two old motorbikes from the e-bay website for his 16th birthday in June and together they had done them up.

"David really was a free spirit," he said. "He was his own person and was always out with his mates."

Floral tributes have been left where the accident happened and groups of schoolchildren have gathered to pay their respects.

One card read: "See ya later mate -- gonna miss your cheeky smile".

David, who had four sisters -- Myra, Nichola, Katy and Mary-Jane -- and one brother, Ifor, left school in the summer with hopes of being a bricklayer. He had been attending a construction course at the Oxford Construction Skills Centre in Horspath Road, Cowley, and had won awards for his bricklaying work.

David's friends and family are hoping to organise a two-minute silence on Friday in his memory at the Oxford Ice Rink, one of his favourite places.