Shoreham air crash: Petition seeks to rename toll bridge

Hundreds of tributes in memory of the 11 people killed in the Shoreham air crash have been left on the toll bridge which crosses the River Adur

Almost 3,000 people have signed a petition calling for the Shoreham Toll Bridge to be renamed The Bridge of Flowers following the airshow crash.

The footbridge has become the focus for hundreds of tributes since a vintage Hawker Hunter jet crashed on to the A27 on 22 August, killing 11 people.

Petition organiser Charlotte Taylor said it was important for the community to note the significance of the event.

"It's really touched so many people," she said.

Councillor Neil Parkin, leader of Adur District Council, said there were also plans for a permanent memorial to the victims.

He said: "We're looking at doing a remembrance walkway from the end of the toll bridge, down the riverbank to Adur Rec, and building a permanent remembrance garden and some sort of memorial."

Mr Parkin said it would first have to be discussed with the next-of-kin.

The number of floral tributes grows every day

Inquests into the deaths of the 11 who died were opened and adjourned on Wednesday.

A pre-inquest review has been scheduled for 22 March, with the full inquest expected to take place in June next year.

Police said they have no reason to believe more than 11 people died in the crash.

Pilot Andy Hill remains in a critical but stable condition at an unnamed specialist hospital.

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) is studying the wreckage of the 1950s' RAF jet to determine the cause of the disaster.

The victims:

(Top row, left to right) Matt Jones, Matthew Grimstone, Jacob Schilt, Maurice Abrahams, Richard Smith. (Bottom row, left to right) Mark Reeves, Tony Brightwell, Mark Trussler, Daniele Polito, Dylan Archer, Graham Mallinson

• Matt Jones, a 24-year-old personal trainer

• Matthew Grimstone, 23, a Worthing United footballer who worked as a groundsman at Brighton & Hove Albion

• Jacob Schilt, also 23 and also a Worthing United player, was travelling to a match with Mr Grimstone

• Maurice Abrahams, 76, from Brighton, was a chauffeur on his way to pick up a bride on her wedding day

• Friends Richard Smith, 26, and Dylan Archer, 42, who were going for a bike ride on the South Downs

• Mark Reeves, 53, had ridden his motorcycle to the perimeter of Shoreham Airport to take photos of the planes

• Tony Brightwell, 53, from Hove was an aircraft enthusiast and had learnt to fly at Shoreham airfield

• Mark Trussler, 54, is thought to have been riding his motorcycle on the A27

• Daniele Polito was travelling in the same car as Mr Jones

• Graham Mallinson, 72, from Newick, was a keen photographer and retired engineer

What we know so far about the air disaster

Profiles of the victims

'Like a bomb exploding' - eyewitness accounts

The air crash in pictures

Jet restrictions announced