ONE of Tiverton’s best known characters, former town traffic warden Terry Forward, has died aged 70, after a short illness.

His widow, Phyllis, 72, spoke yesterday to the Gazette at their home of more than 30 years in Lower Cotteylands.

“He was a wonderful man, with such a dry sense of humour,” she said.

“It seems that all the true old characters of Tiverton are passing away. It’s not long since old Scamper (Gordon Ayres ) died and Terry was a real friend of Scamper – he was one of the few people who knew what Scamper was saying!”

Phyllis (nee Clarke) met Terry at secondary school through his sister Pam.

Terry, who was in the Army for more than 23 years, was home on leave and they met up in Kay’s Coffee Bar.

Over a frothy coffee Terry asked Phyllis what record she wanted on the jukebox and a true love was born.

The couple married at St Peter’s Church – and celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on September 30 this year.

They have three children Mandy Coyle, Andrew Forward and Susan Howe.

After the Army Trevor became a traffic warden, a job he enjoyed for 26 years.

During that time he was occasionally dubbed Hitler by some illegal parkers but it was water off a duck’s back for Terry.

Said Phyllis: “He didn’t care two hoots He even had a T-shirt made up with Adolf written on it.

“He never brought his work home unless it was a funny story, like the man who locked his keys in a car. Terry spent ages getting them out and then he handed them over to the man – who promptly dropped them down the drain! They laughed and laughed.”

Terry had never been a car owner himself, preferring to use his trusty feet to get around instead.

He would say: “I walk — that’s what God gave us feet for. The only time I drove was when I was in the Army.”

Terry’s father, John, worked at the Heathcoat factory as a lace maker for 50 years and Terry followed in his footsteps when he left school at 15, but stayed just 17 months before joining the Army. The weekend after he left the service he joined up as a traffic warden: “for the outside life and the chance to meet people”.

Many of those were attending Terry funeral at Tiverton cemetery todayy(Tues).

Said Phyllis: “He had loads of friends throughout Tiverton. The family and neighbours have been wonderful and the Royal Devon &Exeter Hospital intensive care unit staff were amazing.”