Heartbroken parents pay tribute to ‘caring and bubbly’ daughter killed in Dagenham car crash

The family of a 21-year-old woman killed in a car crash in east London last month have spoken of their heartache since her death.

Grace Payne, from Upminster died after a van, which was driving in the wrong direction, up the A13 collided with the car in which she was a passenger in Dagenham.

The van had failed to stop for Essex police officers before joining the carriageway and was being chased at the time of the crash, which took place at around 2.35am on November 25.

Grace’s parents said: “Grace’s death has left us, along with the rest of her family and friends, devastated.

“We are struggling to come to terms with the fact that our daughter will never be coming home.

"How can we describe Grace? She made us proud in so many ways.

“She was caring, compassionate, bright, funny, bubbly - her friends always said that she had the ability to brighten up their day.

“When she walked out of a room, she left everyone feeling happier than when she had walked in.

“She always wanted to help, always wanted to make people happy.”

Her parents said that although she worked in PR she had planned to retrain as a primary school teacher at 30.

Grace graduated from the University of Kent this year with a degree in history and philosophy and had spent much of the summer travelling around Europe with university friends

“Last week, she joined work colleagues on their regular Thursday night out. Tragically, she never made it home.”

The driver of the van, a 39-year-old man, was taken to hospital where he remains in a serious condition.

He has been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving and failing to stop for police. He remains in police custody in hospital.

The driver of the black Toyota Prius in which Grace was a passenger is receiving treatment in hospital but is not thought to have been seriously injured.

Officers from the Met’s Serious Collision Investigation Unit are investigating the collision.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) is carrying out a separate investigation into the circumstances leading up to the collision including the involvement of Essex Police officers prior to the crash.