TRIBUTES have been paid to a popular Worcestershire dad who died in a motorbike accident 10 years after a bike accident claimed the life of his younger brother.

Gary Peplow, aged 50, died on a tour with friends in Spain on Sunday, August 23 after he lost control of his motorbike, drifting into the barrier.

Mr Peplow had worked at Handy Insurance Services in Stourport before he sold the business three years ago. He lost his brother Dean Peplow to a motorcycle accident.

The 38-year-old died at Selly Oak Hospital in Birmingham on Sunday, June 12, 2005 after being airlifted from the accident on the A456 near Little Hereford.

He had been travelling towards Tenbury from the direction of the Salwey Arms when he was in collision with a purple Volvo S40.

Gary Peplow, known as 'Gaz' to his friends, of Coniston Way, Bewdley, had been riding from Porto to Segovia with a group of five others when he struck the barriers on day nine of their tour.

None of the other riders witnessed what happened but Mr Peplow was not travelling at speed and his bike handling skills were said by friends and family to be exceptional.

Isabel Clarke, his partner and the mother of his five-year-old son James Peplow, said Mr Peplow had been doing something he 'loved' and said no-one knew what had caused the accident.

She said: "It was as if he had blacked out, fallen asleep. The bike just drifted into the barriers. He was a very experienced rider. It was a bike he had 12 years and he knew it inside out."

The accident happened less than an hour from their intended destination for the night.

She described her partner as a businessman and family man who enjoyed classic bikes as a hobby.

Miss Clarke, a lecturer at Staffordshire University, knew him as a friend since she was 15 or 16 years old. They had been a couple for the last six years.

His body was due to be repatriated to the UK on Tuesday (September 8).

Miss Clarke said she loved the ex-Bewdley High School pupil very much and missed him tremendously.

She said: "When you think of Gary you think of the noise. Everything he did was done at full volume.

"If he was up in the morning the radio was on full blast. He had a very full personality. He was a big guy.

"He was very popular and very well-known. I have been overwhelmed by the number of people getting in touch saying they can't believe it. Gary was very measured and very careful. He was organised.

"He was very confident, a one-off really, sociable, outgoing and charismatic. He was a brilliant father to James."

James also shares his dad's love of motorbikes and would help him polish them and 'tinker' with them Miss Clarke said.

She added: "He was fun and rarely gloomy or down. It feels very quiet now. It is so surreal in a way. James says 'I wish daddy was here' and 'I miss daddy'. We will rebuild. Gary would not have wanted anyone to be moping, weeping or crying. But it is going to be hard for months if not years. I was very sad on Sunday. Sunday was our family day.

"It is a massive loss, a big, big gap in our lives. I still feel he's going to come bursting through the door."

The funeral will take place at the Church of St Peter and St Paul in Rock, a church where his parents who survive him were married and where he and Isabel, who were engaged, had planned to marry themselves.

The service at 11am on Tuesday, September 22 will be conducted by Miss Clarke' sister-in-law, Rev Georgina Byrne.

Donations will be made to two or three bike-related charities.