The Location, Location, Location, 53, host today paid tribute to his father Richard, known to friends and family as David, 89, and his mother Anne, 82, following their fatal car accident.
Phil’s co-presenter Kirstie Allsopp offered some public support in the comments, writing beneath the Instagram post: ‘Such a brave and loving statement and so typical of you & your lovely family. So many people have you all in their thoughts and prayers. Xxx.’
TalkTV host Piers said, ‘How incredibly sad. So sorry Phil,’ with adventurer Ben Fogle adding: ‘So sorry Phil.’
Phil Vickery penned: ‘My thoughts are with you and the family,’ while Craig Doyle wrote: ‘Oh Phil, this is so very sad. My thoughts are with you and your family. May they rest in peace.’
Jenni Falconer concluded: ‘Oh Phil, sending so much love to you and your family. This is truly heartbreaking.’
Sharing a snap of the couple, Phil had written on the platform: “As a family, we are all trying to hold onto the fact Mum and Dad went together and that neither will ever have to mourn the loss of the other one. Which is a blessing in itself.”
Phil also revealed heartbreaking new details about the crash.
He said: “The car, going very slowly, toppled over a bridge on the farm drive, upside down into the river.
“There were no physical injuries and I very much doubt they would have even fought it – they would have held hands under the water and quietly slipped away.
“Their carer was in the car and managed to climb out of a back window so the alarm was raised quite quickly.”
Phil praised his brother who desperately tried in to save their parents after the crash.
He said: “As many farmers do – my brother had a penknife and so was able to cut the seat belts – he pulled them out of the river but they never regained consciousness.
“Although desperately sad and shocked beyond all belief – all family are clear that if there can ever be such a thing as having a “good end” – this was it.”
Presenter Phil went on to recall one of the heartbreaking last conversations he had with his mother.
He said: “Although they were both on extremely good form in the days before (hence the sudden idea to go out to lunch), Mum’s Parkinson’s and Dad’s Dementia had been worsening and the long term future was set to be a challenge.
“So much so that Mum said to me only a week ago that she had resigned to thinking “now it looks like we will probably go together”. And so they did.”
He finished his statement by adding: “It feels horrendous right now, but after almost 60 years of marriage – to die together on the farm they so loved will, I know, be a comfort in the future.
“Mum and Dad are together which is precisely where they would have wanted to be.”
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