A YOUNG motorcyclist who died after his machine collided with a van on the main road out of the resort towards Bishopsteignton has been named locally as Alex Dunlop.

Alex, aged 26 and from Shaldon, suffered fatal injuries in Wednesday morning’s accident with a Vauxhall van on the A381 at 9.30am.

Paramedics gave him emergency treatment in the road - quarter-of-a-mile from the Jack’s Patch garden centre - before he was flown by Devon Air Ambulance to Plymouth’s Derriford Hospital where he died shortly afterwards.

The A381 Newton Road was closed between Ware Barton and Morrisons supermarket in Teignmouth for more than eight hours as accident investigators gathered evidence from the scene.

Witnesses to the accident are being sought. Anyone with information should ring police on 101 or email [email protected], quoting log number 250 of 23/08/17.

One person at the scene said after the accident: ‘I could see the bike across the road and someone in the back of the Vauxhall van who was obviously quite distressed. It was a very sad sight. The air ambulance took off from a field about a quarter-of-a-mile away.’

The South Devon coroner has been informed of the tragedy.

An inquest is expected to open next week with a full hearing later in the year or in early 2018.