A VICAR said yesterday the Government must shoulder some of the blame for a road accident that claimed the lives of a father and his six-year-old son.

Stuart Nicholson and his son, Connor, were returning from Appleby Horse Fair, in Cumbria, last Tuesday when their horse-drawn gipsy caravan was in a crash with an articulated tanker on the A66.

The 44-year-old and his son, from Wheatley Hill, County Durham, died at the scene. The horse was later destroyed.

The Government announced last year that it is to upgrade a stretch of the A66 between Scotch Corner and Penrith to dual carriageway, but the work will take several years to complete.

The Reverend Keith Lumsdon, who conducted the funeral service at Holy Trinity Church, West Cornforth, yesterday, criticised failures to dual the road, despite years of campaigning.

He said: "The family are questioning why this has happened and one of the reasons is that successive Governments have failed to accept the dangers of the A66.

"The Government needs to look carefully at what is one of the major east-west trunk roads. If anyone is responsible for what has happened, the Government must bear some of the blame.

"I feel I'm the one person who can raise a safety matter that I think is partly responsible for their deaths."

Mr Lumsdon paid tribute to Mr Nicholson, who he said had brought up Connor and daughters Sarah and Nicola alone for the past six years.

Sarah, 17, had almost been like a mother to Connor, who Mr Lumsdon described as "a gorgeous boy with a mischievous face".

He said: "Connor was Stuart's shadow in life and now, tragically, he is his shadow in death."

Mr Lumsdon also read out a card from a family friend which said: "It will be an Appleby no one will forget. Stuart deserves a medal for the way he brought his children up and kept the family together. At Appleby, Connor was so well spoken and behaved."

A 50-year-old man from Stockton was arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving. He was released on police bail pending inquiries.