A married couple who were killed in an alleged hit-and-run as they rode a tandem were hoping to start a family and were due to start IVF treatment, friends have said.
Ross and Clare Simons, described by friends as “two peas in a pod”, had just been given the go-ahead to start fertility treatment.
They celebrated the happy news on Saturday night with friends at a meal.
Less than 24 hours later, Mr Simons (34) and his 30-year-old wife died when their bicycle was in collision with a Citroen Picasso car in Hanham, near Bristol.
Police said the car struck another vehicle before colliding with Mr and Mrs Simons’s bicycle.
The couple, who had been married for about 18 months and had been together for several years, died at the scene of the crash on Lower Hanham Road.
A 38-year-old man, who is alleged to have fled after the collision, handed himself in to police hours later.
He remains in police custody having been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving.
A 35-year-old woman has also been arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving.
Police confirmed the matter has been referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission because an officer had attempted to stop a speeding Citroen Picasso before the collision.
Family friend Diane Pullin, from Kingswood, Bristol, said: “They are a lovely family, so kind and so helpful.
“They’d just had news that they were able to have fertility treatment… everything to live for. They were trying for children and they had just been told they could have fertility treatment. It’s just terrible and it shouldn’t have happened. Two young people with their lives in front of them… snapped away just like that.”
Mrs Pullin said her daughter Shelley and son-in-law Darren had been out for a meal on Saturday night with Mr and Mrs Simons.
“They desperately wanted children and it wasn’t happening,” Mrs Pullin said.
“They’d just been given the go-ahead. They were so happy on Saturday night. My daughter says she’s got helium balloons at the top of her stairs wishing them luck and she can’t even look at them,”
Police said that shortly before 4pm on Sunday, police attempted to pull over a Citroen Picasso that was travelling along Lower Hanham Road at speed.
A spokesman added: “The officer began to follow the car but it was lost to sight almost immediately. Very shortly afterwards the car struck another vehicle and then collided with two cyclists on a tandem bicycle.”