Tributes have poured in for a well-known estate agent who died after a two-car crash in East Cambridgeshire on Wednesday.

John Shrive was returning from Northamptionshire when his Vauxhall Omega estate car crashed with a Ford Focus on the B1061, in Stetchworth.

The 75-year-old, from Holt, Norfolk, was a rotary club stalwart, had been involved with the North Norfolk Conservative Association and was instrumental in the Kelling Hospital Appeal.

Charles Simeons, of the Rotary Club of Holt and District, said Mr Shrive had visited him in hospital just a fortnight before he died.

He said Mr Shrive had been a man of honour who kept his word and said what he thought.

He said: “He was very proud of his family and of course ran his business as a one-man band.

“We will all miss him very much. He was somebody who didn’t get heavily involved personally but he was always there when he was needed.”

In Mr Shrive’s 20 years as chairman of the Kelling Hospital Appeal, which campaigns for the re-opening of a ward at the hospital, it raised more than £600,000.

He sat on Bodham Parish Council and was a member of Holt and District Farmers’ Club.

Tim Nicholson, of the club, said the loss would leave a big hole.

In a news letter to club members Mr Nicholson said: “I have referred to him as our club’s senior member and he served us with distinction since he came to Holt in the 1960s.”

North Norfolk Conservative Association agent Helen Bartram, said Mr Shrive had been an incredible gentleman.

She said: “I am absolutely shocked and horrified, I can’t really believe it.”

And Holt chartered surveyor Stephen Scott-Fawcett said he had known Mr Shrive for 16 years.

He said: “I found him to be a true gentleman. He quietly got on with his work in a way which avoided controversy and upheld the best side of estate agency.

“He was an honest broker in the property world and will be a great loss to the Holt and north Norfolk business community. I send my heartfelt condolences to his family and close friends.”

In the crash, the driver of the Ford, a 50-year-old man from Haverhill, suffered serious but not life threatening injuries and was taken to Addenbrooke’s Hospital.

Anyone who saw the collision or any of the vehicles involved just prior should contact Sergeant Paul Tanner, at the roads policing unit, on 101