A CHARITY appeal to raise money in the memory of a teenager who was killed after being hit by a car at a petrol station has smashed its target within hours.

Eilish Herron, 17, died last week after she was hit by a Ford Focus driven by an 81-year-old at the forecourt of an Asda service station at Linwood, Renfrewshire.

Her family set up a Just Giving page in her memory, originally setting a £500 target. However, by yesterday, just two days after it was set up, the total had soared to £2700.

On the page, her parents, John and Shanneal, wrote: "To say that we are devastated by the loss of our daughter Eilish is by far the biggest understatement I will ever make. Eilish was the brightest of stars and in our eyes the best daughter and sister we could ever have hoped for - she shone at everything she did and touched so many lives in her short 17 (nearly 18) years with us.

"Not sure I will ever really understand why she had to go but I know that if there really is a heaven that she is there because she simply was a good soul.

"Her loss is, already, unbearable but has been made easier by friends and family and their words of support - everyone echoing the same thing...how Eilish made their life better by being in it."

The family said the money raised will go to Yorkhill Children's Hospital as Eilish's ambition was to become a nurse and eventually work with children.