Ball held to mark birthday of teen killed in crash

Aaron Bell was killed in a crash along with two of his friends near Bedale in 2022

The family of a teenager who died in a car crash held a black tie ball and a run to mark what would have been his 21st birthday.

Aaron Bell, 18, was killed along with two friends, aged 17 and 18, when driver Joshua Chapman lost control of the car they were travelling in on 29 July 2022.

In March, Chapman, now 20, was jailed for nine years and four months, after admitting causing the deaths of the three teenagers in the crash near Bedale.

Aaron's mum, Nicola Bell-Percy, said her son "still deserved" the big 21st birthday party he had intended to have before the fatal crash.

Speaking to the BBC, Mrs Bell-Percy said Aaron would enjoy helping out on the family's farm in Masham and he was "kind and caring to everybody".

"He loved his friends and his passion for sport - especially rugby and cricket - and showing his sheep was unwavering," she said.

Mrs Bell-Percy explained that following her son's death she had tried not to let grief define her, instead preferring to channel it into bringing about positive change.

"I know that life is going to have bad days, weeks and months, but between that there are days where you can see a little bit of light."

Aaron's mum Nicola, brother Luke and step-dad Andrew hope to raise money for charities in the teenager's memory

Mrs Bell-Percy explained that Aaron would have turned 21 on 8 September, which was an occasion his family still wanted to celebrate.

"Initially, before Aaron turned 18, we decided he would just have a few friends over, but we would mark his 21st with a special event," she said.

"He still deserves to have that 21st."

About 220 people attended a ball at the Pavilions of Harrogate on Saturday to fundraise for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance charity and road safety charity Brake, Mrs Bell-Percy said.

Meanwhile, on Sunday morning, the family, along with some of Aaron's friends, took part in a 3.1 mile (5km) run.

Aaron, a keen sports fan, was "kind and caring to everyone", his mum said

Brake supported the Bell-Percy family through a 20-month criminal investigation into the crash which saw Joshua Chapman jailed earlier this year.

Mrs Bell-Percy said she wanted to see a change in the law, which had already been adopted by other countries, to introduce graduated driving licences.

"It’s things like restricting peer-aged passengers, because under-24s are more likely to have crashes when carrying passengers of the same age," she said.

"A lot of the accidents are at night. It’s not about restricting freedoms, it’s about saving lives."

Mrs Bell-Percy said that in countries where graduated licences had been introduced, evidence showed deaths and serious injuries had reduced by about 40%.

However, she said that "despite this evidence and pleas from bereaved families, nothing is being done" in this country.

"How many more young lives need to be lost before some action is taken?" she asked.

'Absolute priority'

A Department for Transport (DfT) spokesperson said road safety was "an absolute priority" for the government.

"Through our long-standing Think! Campaign, we are encouraging behaviour change in order to tackle dangerous driving," they said.

"We are committed to delivering a new road safety strategy – the first in over a decade. We will set out next steps on this in due course."

The spokesperson added that the primary audience for the campaign was young men aged 17-24, who, according to the DfT, were four times more likely to be killed or seriously injured on the road than drivers aged 25 and over.

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