A tribute fund set up in memory of former Mercedes-Benz dealer David Jones has already raised nearly £4,500 to fund research into blood cancer.

Jones, the co-founder and chief executive of Sparshatts Truck & Van, which represents the three-pointed star and the FUSO light truck brand in Kent,  passed away in August while holidaying in Greece with his wife Christine, daughter and only child Helen – who is also a Sparshatts director – and grand-children Islay, Alicia and Henry.

Sparshatts was a founding member of the Mercedes-Benz Dealer Network. Jones and his business partner Roger Sparshatt – who retired in 2000 – began trading in January 1975, and ended their first year with nine employees, having sold 30 vehicles and lost £9,000. Today, more than 200 people work for a company that registered nearly 1,500 new and used vehicles last year, and turned over £88 million.

Jones’s family have set up a donations page for Bloodwise (formerly Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research) to help fund research and improve patients’ lives - www.justgiving.com/DavidRH-Jones166.