THOUSANDS of pounds raised for a dad diagnosed with a brain tumour has been donated to charity after he died before making it to Germany for pioneering treatment.

Gary Phillips, 44, from Benfleet, died at the end of January.

His family had been raising money towards pioneering cancer treatment not available on the NHS.

They have now decided to donate the cash to Brain Tumour Research UK instead.

Gary ran air conditioning company Phillips Refrigeration, based in Clarence Close, Benfleet.

His niece, Taylor Phillips, 20, who also lives in the town, said Gary was a popular man.

She said: “He was very well known.

“He loves his work. He also loved cars and was quite family orientated.”

Father-of-two Gary was born in Pitsea and attended St Margaret’s Primary School, before moving to Benfleet with his parents. He was a student at King John School.

More than 100 people have donated to the fund.

Taylor said: “We raised about £2,600 on the fundraising page, but there is a bit more to come so we think we have reached about £3,000.

“The donations were from family, friends and there were some anonymous donations from people we didn’t know as well. We are really pleased by how much we raised.

“We are going to give the money to Brain Tumour Research UK as it is what Gary would have wanted.

“He was a workaholic so when he was ill a lot of businesses donated lots of money into the fundraising, and my grandad did a quiz night and raised a lot.

“Some friends also did a parachute jump.

“He was a very happy, funny person and was always so excited about all the fundraising going on knowing people were helping him try to fight it.”

The family handed over a cheque to representatives from the charity yesterday.

Taylor added: “They are going to take us round the research hospital so we can see where the money is going. That will be a really nice thing to do.

“Gary is getting a plaque put up at the hospital as well with his name and details of how much he raised.”