FAMILY and friends have been left "devastated" after a popular Kidderminster man became the latest person to die on a notorious stretch of road near Worcester.

Michael Phillips died four days after the car in which he was travelling left the A449 and hit a tree at Hawford. The 41-year-old, of Villiers Road, was on his way home from a leaving party for a friend, with whom he used to work.

His partner, Ian Layzell, of Stourport-upon-Severn, said: "I loved him to bits - he was my life."

The couple were due to go on holiday to Florida in October.

Mr Phillips was described as "the best uncle ever in the world" by his niece, nine-year-old Charlotte Halford. "I will love him and never forget him because he was special," she said, while her 16-year-old sister Hannah said: "He will never leave my thoughts or my heart."

Mr Phillips' mother Jean, of All Saints Avenue, Bewdley, said: "Mike was extremely popular. No one ever said anything unpleasant about him and he never had anything nasty to say about anyone else either."

Mr Phillips had managed the Holland & Barrett health food store in Kidderminster. He was returning from a leaving event for a member of the Worcester branch, which he previously managed, when his red Alfa Romeo left the road at about 11pm last Friday. He died at Worcestershire Royal Hospital on Tuesday.

An inquest is due to be opened and adjourned at Stourport-upon-Severn on Tuesday, May 1.

The funeral arrangements are yet to be finalised.