TRIBUTES have been paid to a “doting father and loving son” who was killed after his motorbike collided with a tractor near Selby.

Daniel Scott Nixon, 37, was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident on the A645 between Eggborough and Knottingley at about 12.45pm on Wednesday, July 27.

Daniel’s father, Ray Palmer, spoke on behalf of all of his family to pay poignant tributes to Daniel, who was born in Darlington and was the eldest of four brothers.

Daniel graduated from Staindrop Comprehensive School in 1989 and went to serve in the British Army with the Prince of Wales’s Own Yorkshire Regiment as a UN peacekeeper.

He served for seven years and during that time he was posted to Bosnia between 1991 and 1993 during the break-up of the former Yugoslavia.

Daniel was also posted to Northern Ireland and Germany.

On leaving the army Daniel settled in Rawcliffe, near Goole, and went on to drive HGVs before going on to set up his own company in landscape gardening.

Mr Palmer said: “Daniel had a love of gardening, animals and all things environmentally friendly.

“He was a doting father, a loving son, an inspirational brother and a treasured friend. Daniel was highly respected among the community for his love of the land and his ability to lend his hand to anything.”

Daniel is survived by his parents, Ruth and Ray and his younger brothers, Simon, Nicholas and Saul. He also leaves his five-year-old daughter and three stepchildren, aged 14, 15 and 17.

A funeral service will be held at Rawcliffe Church, near Goole, on Monday, at 2pm. His family invites all friends of Daniel to attend the service and say their farewells.

An inquest into the Daniel’s death was opened and adjourned yesterday.

• A 27-year-old man is due to appear at Selby Magistrates’ Court later this month charged with causing death by careless driving.