“HE was always there for you when you needed him.”

Anyone who comes across this line in Bill Johnston’s tribute to his son cannot failed to be moved by the warmth which his family felt for 19-year-old Will.

For those of us with children – particularly with teenage children embarking on a life behind the wheel – it’s very much a case of there but for the grace of God go all of us.

The fact that Bill is the same age as me and my daughter is the same age as the son he’s lost gives the story an added poignancy.

However much we moan about our youngsters – their strange habits, their strange friends, their stranger music and their ability to frustrate us – nothing could prepare us for the void left by their untimely departure from this life.

The fact that two families have been devastated by the accident on the A31 last week – 72-year-old Donald Llewellyn Williams was the driver of the other car in the double fatality – doubles that anguish.

No parents ever want to have to sit down and try to explain what their child meant to them after they have gone, for it surely has to be the most heartbreaking task.

The fact that the Johnstons have done so with such an enormous sense of pride in and love for their lad and a sincere regret that he will not be able to fulfil his dreams says so much about their strength.