'Mr Jaguar' Bryan killed doing the job he loved

Bryan Ramage, 63, died after the Jeep he was tinkering with in his garage slipped from its jack and landed on his chest.

A friend raised the alarm after finding the father-of-four pinned beneath the vehicle, yards from his home in Chalkieside, Dalkeith, last Tuesday evening.

Paramedics worked for an hour to revive Mr Ramage but he was later pronounced dead.

Angela Trotter, Mr Ramage's partner of 34 years, spoke of the moment the family friend discovered his body.

"A friend went (to the garage] to see him but came back saying to me 'Don't go round there Angie, I think something's not right there'. But of course I went running up and found him, he was laying with the axle on his chest.

"I was told there was no expression on his face and it looks like he has died tragically doing the job that he loved."

She added that Mr Ramage was an experienced motor engineer who ran RAMS Coachworks in Loanhead for 20 years before retraining as a support worker for Carr-Gomm Scotland - a charity for people with disabilities and mental health issues.

"He was meticulous about health and safety when working underneath cars," she said. "The jack was up but with all the snow there's been this year the ground must have given way."

Despite a change of trade, Mr Ramage retained a passion for auto repairs, especially restoring vintage cars. Due to his work on classics he earned the nickname "Mr Jaguar".

Paying tribute to the "love of her life", Miss Trotter, 55, said: "Bryan was such a people person and would never do anyone a bad turn. He gave up the (auto repair] business and worked from home restoring old Jaguars. It was always a labour of love for him."

She added: "When I was diagnosed with cancer on my birthday in 2008, he nursed me through it, as did my children, and I don't know what I would have done without him then.

"Any time he was in a bar he would be up singing, he loved folk singing and touched so many people through his singing. Everyone wanted him in their company because they knew they were guaranteed a good night.

"He was the love of my life and we were best pals - I'm going to miss him so much."

Mr Ramage was born in Almondsbury, Bristol, but as a child moved to Craigmillar before the family set up home in The Inch. He and Miss Trotter moved to Chalkieside in Dalkeith in 1977 and later had two children Bryan, now 30, and Brenda, now 26.

In 2007, it emerged he was a descendant of Sergeant Henry Ramage, one of Edinburgh's greatest war heroes, who won a Victoria Cross for saving the lives of colleagues at the Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War.

Mr Ramage visited the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards Museum at Edinburgh Castle on his 60th birthday to be pictured with the Victoria Cross presented to his ancestor in June 1858.

Mr Ramage is survived by Angela Trotter, their children Bryan and Brenda, and children Mark and Sharon from a previous marriage.

A service will be held at Mortonhall Crematorium on Thursday at noon and his ashes are to be scattered near his birthplace in Bristol.