A car enthusiast was laid to rest on what would have been his 21st birthday after he died in a tragic accident.

Daniel Hunt from Tonbridge was killed when the car he was working on slipped off the jack and crushed him.

Paying tribute to his son, Steve Hunt, said: “Daniel was just a loving, caring boy – everyone on Facebook has just been saying he was one of a kind.

“He would help anyone with anything, he was always there for me through thick and thin.”

Daniel died on January 9 while working on one of his cars.

Steve knew he was at the yard in West Malling as he had seen the gates wide open through camera footage of the site but noticed all the lights were off.

He went down with his brother to check on him and made the tragic discovery.

It was his dad who first got Daniel into banger racing when he was a child.

Steve said: “I like my children to be out doing things, not stuck indoors on Xboxes.

"I bought them a couple of quadbikes when they were only three or four, and they started out with them.”

His passion grew from there, with the then-teen wanting to have a go at junior banger racing. He won his first trophy at his first event at Stansted Raceway.

His dad continued: “I would support him financially when he was young.

“But, as soon as he left school, he got a job, and he paid for it all himself.

“He has done it all on his own. He knew how to build the cars and knew what to buy and what to sell off.”

Daniel worked at Kwik-fit in Tunbridge Wells during the day and would head to his yard down Ryarsh Lane in West Malling in the evenings.

Mr Hunt thinks he had about 20 cars there, with four of them being built so he could take them racing this year.

“He used to spend every spare second of every day he had building his cars.

“Some nights, he would still be there until 10.30pm or 11pm, then go home, have a shower and then go to work the next day.

“Me, my partner and his brother used to spend every evening down the yard with him doing his cars – it was just his life."

Daniel's funeral was held yesterday at St Stephen's Church and he was laid to rest at the cemetery in Shipbourne Road.

The procession started at Gorham Drive and he was followed by around 30 banger cars which were carried on trucks as they are not road-safe.

Speaking ahead of the funeral, Steve said: “He has so many people coming down for the funeral from banger racing. I never knew he had so many friends.”

Many of these friends took to social media to pay tribute to him.

One said: “You were one of the best. You’ll always be in our hearts and missed by so many.”

Another added: “Daniel was such a lovely lad, kind and gentle – he loved life and people.”

Daniel also leaves behind his brother Harvey, who he had competed a few races with, and baby sister Poppy.

A memorial meet will be held for him on June 1 at Stansted Raceway, with the cars participating sporting green-painted front bumpers in his honour.