Crowd of family, friends and strangers gather in Rose Gardens to mark life of Southsea teenager Junior Singh
MORE than 100 family, friends and strangers gathered to pay tribute to a 17-year-old who died in a car crash just days after passing his driving test.
Junior Singh lost his life in the tragedy on the M275 on Sunday, January 12, when his car crashed and flipped. He had celebrated passing his driving test just six days earlier.
Yesterday a memorial was held in the Rose Garden in Southsea to mark the life of the Priory School pupil with a balloon release, and fireworks.
Junior’s grandfather Jaswant Singh told The News: ‘It means such a lot to our family that this was organised and we are very grateful.
‘His friends and family were there but also people we didn’t know, like the people who got him out of the car. They were strangers but now we feel like we have known them for years.’
Friends of the youngster spoke about him at the memorial and the family also took part in a Sikh prayer.
Jaswant, of Salisbury Road, Southsea, added: ‘His school teachers were there as well and even though he was not always the best behaved at school, the teachers were very upset and in tears.
‘It shows he was a very popular person. He was the most caring, thoughtful person who loved his family.’
It is unknown what caused the crash, with police confirming that only one vehicle was involved.
Junior’s uncle, Surinder Singh, said he unknowingly passed his nephew’s overturned vehicle while on his way to pick up a car from Portchester.
We saw it an hour or so after the accident and saw a car had flipped over and thought “gosh, they’re going to be lucky to get away with that”,’ said the 43-year-old.
Mr Singh added his world collapsed as soon as he found out it was his nephew who had been involved in the accident.
‘It was like being hit with a truck at a 100mph – I was just in total shock,’ he said.