TRIBUTES have poured in for a “lovely man” who was killed in a horror crash.

Mr Hayes, aged 48, from Farnworth, died after his Honda motorbike collided with a Toyota Rav4 in St Helens Road yesterday afternoon.

Scores of friends and former colleagues of the Tesco staff member have taken to social media to express their sadness at the news and share memories of “one of the best guys” they knew.

Tom Rothwell said: “Rest in peace Billy mate, you'll be missed.

He added: “Some really nice comments on here, one of the best guys I’ve worked with, always smiling and always having a laugh!

“It won’t be the same without you mate, sleep tight x.”

Lorraine Mather said: “RIP just heard the motorcyclist has passed away, very sad news,” while witness Ash Prince posted: “Saw this, it was horrific, RIP to the biker.”

St Helens Road was closed for three hours yesterday evening between Church Avenue and Brandwood Street while investigators carried out work, before reopening.

There have also been calls from residents and politicians for action to be taken in the area where Mr Hayes was killed — which has seen numerous high profile accidents take place in recent years.

In 2013, Mohammed Patel and Furqaan Mohmed were jailed after "racing" at 80 miles per hour in the road, before crashing and badly injuring a 12-year-old boy.

Earlier this year a four-year-old girl had to be airlifted to hospital after a dramatic smash in the same road, which left a car impaled on metal railings.

Writing on Facebook, David Figgins said: "Easily the worst road in Bolton for drivers.

"People pull out of side streets without warning, switch lanes without indicating, park in bus lanes and do u-turns when the roads are full.
"It's no surprise that there's loads of crashes on there."

Sally Rebeiro added: "Ive lived on St Helens 30 years and it gets worse,  it's like too fast too furious." 

Yasmin Qureshi is the MP for the Bolton South East constituency, where the incident happened and where Mr Hayes lived.

She said: “I would like to offer my sincere condolences and heartfelt sadness to the family of Mr Hayes — I can only imagine how they must be feeling after this young life was cut so tragically short.”

Ms Qureshi said action needs to now be taken to make sure similar incidents do not take place in St Helens Road.

She said: “Something has to be done, whether that is speed calming measures or a stronger police presence in the area — and I will be speaking to the local authority about this.

“There have been too many incidents now — people treat it like a racetrack when it is a 30 mile per hour domestic road.”

Police are still urging anyone who witnessed the incident to contact 101 with information.