MOURNERS today paid their last respects to a 26-year-old York man who died in a car crash.

Friends and family gathered at York Crematorium for the funeral of Allen Grimes, who was killed when his car ran off the A59 York to Harrogate road, near Green Hammerton.

Mr Grimes, who lived with his parents at White House Dale, Dringhouses, was driving back from a night out go-karting at Tockwith when the accident happened on April 23.

As the coffin was carried into the chapel, the song Always by Bon Jovi was played, and during the service Boyzone's Father And Son was heard.

During his address, Canon Michael Long described Allen Grimes as a man who had "many, many, many friends."

Canon Long said Mr Grimes showed "a wonderful sense of compassion, friendship and service to the people he worked for and to his family and friends."

He added: "In this service we should try to give thanks for that friendship and that service and pray that in our own lives we have something of these wonderful qualities.

"Love seems to be the quality that lasts forever, which not even death can destroy and that means that Allen's love goes on in another dimension, not physically, but in a deeper heart-to-heart sense.

"So long as we hold on to that quality of love, then in a very real and mysterious way, Allen will surely live on, live on in our hearts."

Mr Grimes attended Dringhouses Junior School and Millthorpe Secondary School before going on to become manager at the Kwik Fit garage in Ripon. He had been due to begin a new job for the company in Goole last week.

He was known for his sense of humour, his interest in cars and his love, from an early age, of Everton Football Club.

He leaves his fiancee Emma Rhodes, his parents, Roger and Rose, his brother John and two sisters, Gillian and Julie.

The Evening Press was invited to attend Allen's funeral.