Father-of-five Alan Goddard died at the wheel of his car just weeks after his wife begged him to give up his beloved motorcycle.

Mr Goddard, 49, was killed when his car crashed into the back of a lorry on the ice-affected A34.

A tearful Doreen Goddard told the Oxford Mail how she had begged her husband not to use his new motorcycle after he skidded on diesel only five weeks ago.

Mrs Goddard, a nurse who works for Home Farm Trust, was on the night shift when her husband died. He had left their home in Havers Avenue, Milton Heights, at about 5.30am on Sunday to travel to work at the Rover factory in Cowley. She said: "He bought the bike to travel to work on because he loved motorbikes.

"But after the accident I was so worried about what might happen, I persuaded him not to use it any more.

"He loved his family dearly and would do anything for us, so he never went back on the bike. And now this has happened.

"It had been icy up here for days. But it's so isolated you need a car to travel. He was such a careful driver. That's the difficult thing to understand, he was always so careful."

Mrs Goddard said she had not driven a car since the accident and was worried about her children doing the same. She said: "I have been a passenger, but I'm not sure I can face driving now. I'm just too frightened.

"Since it happened, I've made the children bus everywhere. Today, my eldest son, Simon, has driven to his flat in Swindon to collect clothes for the funeral, and I am so worried for him. I just want them all here safe at home.

"Alan had been driving since he was 18. He was such a careful driver and that's why coming to terms with this is so hard."

Mr Goddard was a big Beatles fan who shared his love of music with his children.

Simon, 20, Daniel, 18, Ben, 15, Gemma, 13 and Jessica, eight, had all been planning a "Magical Mystery Tour" for their dad's 50th birthday in March. Now they are comforting each other and their mum at home, surrounded by Beatles' memorabilia.

Ben said: "He had always wanted to go on the famous Magical Mystery Tour in Liverpool. We wanted to take him, but were trying to organise it without him finding out. We were going to go together.

"He was more like a friend. He was so loving and generous. We all shared his love for the Beatles.

"He was a very loving person, always a laugh."

Story date: Thursday 23 December

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.