TRIBUTES have been paid to a father and son who died in a weekend car crash.

Shaun Gellatly, 28, and his father, Malcolm, 48, died in the early hours of Sunday when the Rover they were back seat passengers in left the A177 at Bowburn, near Durham City, and overturned.

Shaun's wife, Amanda Bamling-Gellatly, of Park Avenue, Coxhoe, County Durham, said: "Shaun and his dad had a real twinkle in their eyes and lovely cheeky smiles.

"They broke the mould when they made those two."

Mrs Bamling-Gellatly married Shaun, her childhood sweetheart, only 11 months ago. The couple were planning to start a family.

They met on a blind date when they were 15 and have been together ever since.

She said: "There was never a day that would go by when he didn't say 'I love you' - even if we had a row.

"It is so hard because we were going to have children, but Shaun wanted to get the house ready first.

"He loved kids and couldn't wait to have his own."

A forklift truck driver, Shaun was made redundant from Electrolux on Friday but had already attended an interview for another job.

Malcolm, of Westfield Way, Redcar, east Cleveland, was a chargehand at Brands Pre-cast, at South Bank, near Middlesbrough.

He spent many weekends visiting his son's family in County Durham.

Amanda said: "He used to make everyone laugh and was always telling jokes.

"The whole community is devastated and we have had loads of people coming round and have got a stack of sympathy cards as big as a house.

"We'd like to thank our family and friends who have been there for us."