Lancaster family pay tribute to 31-year-old father-of-two killed in crash

The family of a 31-year-old former soldier who was killed in a crash in Lancaster have paid tribute to a 'loving son and father'.
Father-of-two David Smalley, 31, died in a collision on the A6 Slyne Road, Lancaster on December 11.Father-of-two David Smalley, 31, died in a collision on the A6 Slyne Road, Lancaster on December 11.
Father-of-two David Smalley, 31, died in a collision on the A6 Slyne Road, Lancaster on December 11.

David Smalley, who served in the armed forces before returning to Lancaster to raise his young family, died at the scene of the crash on the A6 Slyne Road on Tuesday December 11.

At 3pm, Mr Smalley was driving his Vauxhall Astra along Slyne Road with his two-year-old daughter as passenger, when he clipped the wing mirror of an oncoming Volkswagen Touran.

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He then collided head on with a Land Rover Discovery near the junction of Oxford Street, where he suffered fatal injuries.

Father-of-two David Smalley, 31, died in a collision on the A6 Slyne Road, Lancaster on December 11.Father-of-two David Smalley, 31, died in a collision on the A6 Slyne Road, Lancaster on December 11.
Father-of-two David Smalley, 31, died in a collision on the A6 Slyne Road, Lancaster on December 11.

Mr Smalley died at the scene, but his two-year-old daughter survived and was taken to Royal Lancaster Infirmary with a minor injury.

In a tribute his family said: “David was a 31-year old husband to Samantha, father to Poppy, two-years years old, and Ruby, eight-years old.

"He was also a loving son to his parents David Snr and Phillipa.

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“He was born in Lancaster and grew up in the Heysham area. Shortly after leaving school he joined the Armed Forces and served in the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment.

"He served for a number of years on various deployments before returning to live in the Lancaster area prior to leaving the Regiment.

"Over recent years he worked as a porter in the local hospital.

“He enjoyed the outdoors and went walking in the Lake District whenever he could. He had a keen interest in cars and enjoyed finding out how things worked and fixing them.

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"He always enjoyed spending time with his family who were all very important to him.

"He will be greatly missed by everyone who knew him.”

Anyone with information can call 101 quoting incident reference 827 of December 11.