Dad killed three minutes from home as family ‘never got to say goodbye’
A family has paid tribute to a devoted dad and partner after he was killed in a road accident just three minutes from his home.
Tony Sheil, originally from St Helens[1], was driving home from work on the evening of November 24 last year when he was involved in a crash with a HGV on the A75 in southwest Scotland. His heartbroken daughters have described their pain at "not being able to say goodbye."
Tony was pronounced dead at the scene, while the HGV driver was uninjured. The crash is subject to an ongoing police investigation.
The 51-year-old dad was described by his long-time partner Michaela, 53, as the type of man who "would drop anything to go out and help anyone".
She said: "He loved spending time with his children and he loved his dogs."
Tony and Michaela met when they were teenagers and got engaged on Michaela's 18th birthday. They spent more than three decades together but didn't get around to tying the knot.
Tony Sheil was driving home from work on the evening of November 24 when he was involved in a collision with a HGV (Image: Sheil Family)
The couple had two daughters, Samantha Jane, 20 and Natasha, 16, and lived in Haydock[4] for 18 years before moving to rural Scotland in 2022.
Michaela told the ECHO: "It was Tony's dream to move back to Scotland. He lived on the Isle of Skye when he was younger and wanted to find a house to live in with plenty of land. He wanted to retire here."
Tony's family are calling for urgent improvements to the road where Tony died. They have pushed for more speed cameras, for white lines to be repainted on the road and for more cat's eyes to be installed.
According to Transport Scotland, between 2016 and 2021 there were 564 casualties on the A75 and A77 Euroroutes.
Tony and Michaela met when they were teenagers and got engaged on Michaela's 18th birthday (Image: Sheil Family)
Michaela said: "I don’t want any other family to go through what me and my daughters are still going through."
Samantha-Jane and Natasha said: "We want something positive to come out of dad's death. We will fight for this road to get the changes it desperately needs. Even if we stop just one family from getting the same news we received that night.
"He never got to say goodbye to us and we never got to say goodbye to him. That will always hurt. Our lives will never be same again. It always been the four of us now it just three."
The family is also raising money for a memorial stone and bench[5] in Tony's memory.
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References
- ^ St Helens (www.liverpoolecho.co.uk)
- ^ Try the Liverpool Echo Premium app and get the first month free (www.liverpoolecho.co.uk)
- ^ BBC Strictly Come Dancing star dies aged 44 as tributes flood in (www.liverpoolecho.co.uk)
- ^ Haydock (www.liverpoolecho.co.uk)
- ^ raising money for a memorial stone and bench (go.skimresources.com)
- ^ Don't miss the biggest and breaking stories by signing up to the Echo Daily newsletter here (www.liverpoolecho.co.uk)