A student who died after he was struck by a car while trying to cross a road has been named.

Robert Plumber, 20, was staying in student digs in Colchester while studying sociology at Essex University.

He was killed as he tried to cross the busy A133 Colchester to Clacton road at Clingoe Hill on Tuesday.

His parents said: "He was in his second year at the University of Essex where he was studying sociology, but had no fixed plans beyond his course at the university.

"He thoroughly enjoyed his course, and the friends he had met at the university."

Robert leaves his mother, father, and two younger brothers, all of whom are from Yeovil, Somerset.

Shocked staff at the university described the student as an "extremely sociable" and popular young man.

Police are still appealing for witnesses to the accident which happened at about 2.40pm on Tuesday.

The incident has sparked calls for safety improvements to be made on the road which claimed another student's life last year.