Police name teen killed after lying on road

File photo / NZ Herald

The teenager who was lying on an unlit South Canterbury rural road when he was struck and killed by a car early yesterday has been named.

Bryce Vincent Bamford, 16, was lying on Rise Rd, near Milford Clandeboye Rd, near Temuka, when he was struck by a Honda car driven by a 30-year-old local man about 4.30am, police say.

The driver of the vehicle, who had been on his way to pick up his sister from a 21st party, called police as soon as he realised he had hit someone, local Sergeant Simon Heeley said.

"He's obviously very upset and shaken by the incident."

The man undertook a breathalyser test, but there was no alcohol in his system, he said.

The road was an unlit country lane, "so it would have been dark".

The death has been referred to the corner, while police investigations into the cause of the crash are ongoing.

Bryce worked at a Clandeboye dairy farm outside Temuka.

Two Facebook pages have been set up in his honour.

Posts pay tribute to a popular, kind, and hard-working young man.

"Love you always, son," wrote dad Phill Bamford, of Christchurch.

A funeral would be held in Christchurch, as well as "some kind of get together" in Temuka for Bryce's friends there.

His employer, Paula Davis, paid tribute to "a great worker in our shed" who will be "sorely missed by all his workmates. RIP Bryce."