Family pay tribute to Darwen man who died following Moped accident

The parents of a moped rider who sadly died following a collision in Blackburn have paid a loving tribute to him.

Officers were called to Preston Old Road just before 10pm on Thursday (December 16th) following reports of a serious collision involving a Honda motorcycle and a Toyota Prius, close to the Shell Petrol Station.

The rider of the Honda, who we can now name as 31-year-old John Paul Buckland from Darwen, suffered extensive injuries and sadly died in hospital on Friday morning.

Mr Buckland’s parents said: “John Paul was our precious son, and much-loved brother and uncle. He was a hard-working young man who was enjoying life. He loved riding his moped and it gave him his independence. He was a private chap who was looking forward to the Christmas festivities. He has been taken away from us and will be missed so much by us all.”

The driver of the Prius was not injured and stopped at the scene.

The road was closed for several hours but has since re-opened.

Sgt Marc Glass, of the Serious Collision Investigation Unit, said: “My thoughts are very much with John Paul’s family at this extremely difficult time.

“We are continuing to work to establish the full circumstances of what occurred and I would ask anyone with information or dashcam footage which could assist our investigation to contact the police as soon as possible.”

Anyone with information is asked to call police on 101, quoting log 1491 of December 16, 2021.