A SUTTON man has paid tribute to his son who is aiming to raise £1 million for Bradford's burns research unit in memory of those who died in the Valley Parade fire disaster 30 years ago.

David Bowers, 43, who lives in Melbourne but is a huge Bradford City fan, wants to achieve his target by May 11, the anniversary of the fire which claimed the lives of 56 people.

His dad, Derek, said: "He would have been at the game in 1985 if he wasn’t doing his Duke of Edinburgh's Award.

"He knows so many people who were there the day of the fire.

"He's a massive fan of the club. I send him over some memorabilia and he keeps up with the games in Australia.

"I'm so proud of David for doing this. He does anything he can for anybody else."

David shot to social media fame in 2013 after setting up a Facebook campaign to convince his wife to let him fly to watch the Bantams in the Capital One Cup final against Swansea.

He targeted one million 'likes' on that occasion and ended up with 1.8 million to book his place back to the UK.

Now he hopes to recreate that level of interest by swapping likes for cash with the aim of raising funds for the University of Bradford's Plastic Surgery and Burns Research Unit.

Visit justgiving.com/millionlikes dave or paypal at onemillion-one@hotmail.com to make a donation.