A memorial bench for teenager Jack Mander has been placed near to the spot where he died.

The 17-year-old was killed after his Yamaha motorcycle crashed into the back of a lorry parked in Anthony’s Way, on Medway City Estate, on October 13 last year.

The wooden bench reads Ride Free Be Free and is decorated with a bike chain and two wheels.

The grass verge became a shrine to the teenager following his death, and candles and personal items have once again been placed there, surrounding the bench.

Jack’s mother Julie said the bench had been put in place using money raised with an online GoFundMe page and made by A.J Tebbutt Joinery on the Medway City Estate.

“It’s really nice,” she said. “All his friends were down there at the weekend re-turfing.

“It’s there so Jack’s not forgotten and also as a reminder that there was a fatality there.

“His friends go down there quite regularly – it’s somewhere where they can sit rather than just stand around.”

She thanked the council for letting them put a memorial bench in place, but said there should be more signs in place warning drivers to keep their parking lights on.

“I go back to what I said,” she added. “If the lights had been on, Jack wouldn’t have hit the lorry.”

Last month a coroner concluded Jack, of Strood, had died from multiple injuries as the result of a road traffic accident.

Police evidence suggested the HGV was visible to other road users and that Jack had been travelling almost twice the 30mph speed limit.

Assistant coroner for Mid Kent and Medway, Katrina Hepburn, said evidence about his speed was “uncertain” but concluded he had been travelling over the speed limit.

The court also looked at whether the bright headlights of an oncoming vehicle could have obscured his view of the lorry, but it was impossible to conclude to what extent, if any, the lights had contributed to the accident.