FRIENDS have raised over £1,000 towards funeral expenses for the family of a teenager who died after falling from a car park.

Fourteen-year-old Sam Abel, a pupil at Tudor Grange Academy Worcester, died in hospital on Sunday after the tragic fall near to ASDA on Sunday afternoon.

In less than 24 hours, the Go Fund Me page set up by a friend of Sam's surpassed its original goal of £550 and raised over £1,000.

Friends and strangers shocked by the teenager's death have shared the page hundreds of times on social media sites making it so popular it was 'trending' on the site.

Writing about his "dear" friend, the page's author said: "Sam was a very Happy, cheerful and a bright young man :).

"He has made sure to keep his family happy and safe also his friends including me and he never failed to do so. "Sam has achieved lots of his goals during his life time and also helped me achieve some of mine.

"He was running 2 successful YouTube channel's which he did a fantastic job at and got support from it along the way.

"He also did achieve many more of his goals during his life time.

"This fundraiser is here to help fund the funeral for Sam.

"The price of the funeral is unknown to me at this moment but any amount of money will be a huge help for the family.

"These funds are all going to go to Sam's family and preferably as soon as possible would be amazing."

  • To contribute to the fund, click here.

Earlier this week, Samantha Roach, head teacher of Tudor Grange, paid a heartfelt tribute to the year ten student.

She said: "Sam was a genuinely caring student who was always looking to help and support other children.

"He won prizes in school recently for his attitude and endeavour, always showing commitment to all that he did.

"Staff enjoyed teaching Sam because of his warm and witty conversations and his enthusiasm for his studies, we will miss seeing him cycling on his way to school as he did.

"We will all miss him dearly.

"This is a huge shock for the whole school community and all our heartfelt thoughts are with his family and friends.

"We have offered to support the family in any way we can.

"Our other main priority is to look after the wellbeing of our school community while we all come to terms with what has happened.

"Staff have been supported and received guidance today so that they are able to provide care and reassurance to the students.

"Students and staff who require more guidance and reassurance will be able to speak to trained internal and external specialists in bereavement who will be on site."

Police said they are not treating Sam's death as suspicious and have asked witnesses to call 101 quoting reference number 357s of January 8.