Tributes have been paid to a “well-respected” and “reliable” husband and father who died in a three car crash on the M25 near London Colney.

Family man Kevin Heffernan, 49, who lived with his wife Patricia and their six year old son in Leverstock Green, died in the accident which happened on the anti-clockwise carriageway between junction 23 and junction 22 on Sunday, March 27.

Mr Heffernan was driving a grey BMW X5 and at around 11.35pm that day he left the carriageway and overturned.

A woman in her 30s, driving a Peugeot 206 and a woman in her 40s driving a silver MG TF both sustained slight injuries.

Mr Heffernan and his wife were married in 2000 after meeting two years earlier while on holiday in Tenerife.

She said: “We fell in love straight away and we were inseparable.”

Mr Heffernan went to St Albert the Great School and then John F Kennedy School in Hemel Hempstead and was a “well-respected” project manager for design firm Maris Interior.

Good friend Gary Crouch, of Boxmoor, recalls many happy holidays with Kevin.

He said: “He was the most reliable person I have ever met.

“You could rely on him for anything. If you asked him to do something he would do it.

“He was a straight talking guy and that was what I liked about him but he was also calm and laid back.”

Every year, on Mr Heffernan’s birthday, the family would visit Bournemouth and they also enjoyed holidays abroad.

He was also a Formula One and Lewis Hamilton fan – a passion he shared with his young son. 

John Parker, from Apsley, another of Mr Heffernan’s close friends, said: “I have known Kevin since I was 17 and he has had a big impact on my life.

“He has been a good friend for the last 30 years. A good solid character who knew his own mind and someone you would go to for advice.”

His funeral will be held at St Mary and St Joseph Church in Boxmoor on Monday, April 18 at 12.30pm.

The family are requesting donations be made in his memory to NSPCC.