Colleagues of crushed teacher to meet

Scott Williams had been drinking with friends when he fell asleep in a skip. Photo / Supplied

Former colleagues of the New Zealand teacher crushed to death in a rubbish truck in England will gather together tonight and share stories about the man.

Scott Williams, 35, had been drinking with friends in Brighton, when he fell asleep in a skip. The wheelie bin was picked up by a rubbish truck and his crushed body was discovered when the truck emptied its load at the depot.

Mr Williams was a teacher at Auckland's Pakuranga College in 1999 and 2000 where he taught physical education and mathematics.

Principal Mike Williams has only been in the job a matter of weeks but said staff members remember Mr Williams as having a "wicked sense of humour".

"He was an engaging character with a wide smile. Students related well to him and he was a great role model, demonstrating qualities of caring and being considerate.

"He supported others and put hours into developing units of work for the PE department when a new curriculum was introduced. He coached the first XV was a wonderful team person," Mr Williams said in a statement to media.

A former student of Scott Williams at Pakuranga College said she remembered him as one of those "special teachers".

Monica Nana said she recalls being on an outdoor education camp with Mr Williams and said he "always made sure everyone was ok".

"Basically he was just one of those kinds of teachers, everyone has a special teacher, and he was one who made a difference in someone's life," Ms Nana said.

She said Mr Williams was an "open and honest" man.

A friend of Mr Williams in the UK said he was "always fun and laughing".

Donna Kearvell travelled around Europe with Mr Williams in a van with four other people.

She described him as "athletic, always fun and laughing".

"He was a lovely guy, friendly and outgoing," Ms Kearvell said.

She said she was told of the tragedy by a journalist and it was not until she went online and looked at her Facebook page and saw messages about the tragedy from her friends that it began to sink in.

"It's terrible, a very weird accident," Ms Kearvell said.

Mr Williams was a champion swimmer who represented the Waikato in his teenage years.

Waikato swimming secretary Kate Thorn said Mr Williams was a successful swimmer and represented Waikato at the national swimming championships.

The Sun newspaper quoted a colleague of Mr Williams, Jacqueline Glazerman, who also described him as a "fantastic teacher" in maths and physical education.

"Scott was a lovely man and a fantastic teacher. I used to work with him and it's a real shock to hear of how he died," Ms Glazerman told the newspaper.

"It really is terrible. He was a really nice guy and was easy to get on with and was great with the kids. He will be sadly missed," she said.

An old schoolmate, Dwayne Coker, also paid tribute to Mr Williams, writing to nzherald.co.nz to say he was a good guy and "a fantastic swimmer".

"He was a really good guy, he liked everyone and had fun with all," Mr Coker wrote.

The Times Online website quoted police as saying they were investigating Mr Williams' death, but were not treating it as suspicious.

"It is assumed that Scott, who had been out with a friend and was seen in public houses in the city until 1am on Sunday, had been in one of the wheelie bins," a police spokesperson told the site.

"Police are investigating how he came to be there and are treating his death as unexplained rather than suspicious."

The Times quoted Sussex Waste Recycling Ltd director Dave Ely as saying staff were looking through the waste and one of them saw what he thought was a body and police were called.

Mr Williams had previously worked at Pakuranga College in Auckland as a rugby coach and PE teacher and travelled to England in 2000.

- NZHERALD STAFF