A YOUNG Dulverton man killed in a horrific accident on a building site was described this week as a "lovely lad with a massive smile."

Dan Whiston was trapped beneath a dumper truck which is believed to have fallen on him as he was working at a property in Uplowman near Tiverton last Tuesday.

He died at the scene from his injuries and an investigation into the accident has been launched by the Health and Safety Executive.

Dan, who was just 20, lived at Liscombe Cottages with his parents Simon and Jackie and had two older sisters, Sam and Hayley.

He was a keen footballer, out on the pitch from the age of seven when he joined Dulverton Juniors, later playing for a Minehead youth team and turning out for Dulverton Town Football Club's first team and reserves up to his death.

Club chairman Brian Edworthy paid tribute to his love of the sport but said it was not only the local footballing world who mourned his loss.

"The whole community of Dulverton is in a state of shock," he said.

"Everyone knew him and our hearts go out to his family - they are absolutely devastated.

"It's such a tragedy. He was a lovely lad, very likeable. He always had a cheeky grin, a massive smile, and that is how I will remember him.

"I used to run the junior side and I had known him since I took it over about 15 years ago.

"He was a keen and quick player and he loved his football. He was never any trouble and his death is just such a terrible loss."

Dulverton Town's games went ahead as planned last Saturday as a tribute to Dan and some of his family went along to the reserves' home match against Staplegrove Colts.

Flowers were laid on the halfway line and a minute's silence observed by the teams and spectators in Dulverton and at the club's away game at Bishops Lydeard in his memory.

A spokesman for the Silver Street Volkswagen Taunton and District Saturday League said Dulverton Town had considered not playing their scheduled games.

"But they decided to play as that was what Dan would have wanted - a 20-year-old who loved his football.

"Everyone involved with the league expresses their condolences to Dan's friends and family."

Dan was a pupil at Dulverton First and Middle schools before moving on to the West Somerset Community College in Minehead.

He had been a kitchen assistant and held a variety of jobs but had just started work as a labourer when the accident happened.

A Devon and Cornwall police spokesman confirmed that investigations were being carried out in conjunction with the Health and Safety Executive but the death was not being treated as suspicious.