FAMILY members have paid tribute to a "lovely, genuine and kind" York mother and son who have died in a crash with a lorry.

Jean Kay, 70, of Haxby, and Richard Kay, 44, of Strensall, were killed on August 16 when their Vauxhall Mokka car collided with a lorry in Barrow upon Humber.

Jean’s husband Geoff, 73, a retired Portasilo Ltd employee who was driving the car, suffered fractures and some internal injuries but is recovering in hospital, while police said the driver of the Volvo HGV was unhurt.

The Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance was called to the scene and Humberside Police closed the road for several hours after the crash.

The force has urged any witnesses to the accident, which happened near the junction of Thornton Street and Wold Road on the B1206, to phone 101, quoting log 215 of August 16.

Jean’s sister Elizabeth said her three relatives had been visiting friends in Lincolnshire when the accident happened.

She said Richard had been working as a learning support assistant at a school for deaf children in Doncaster while Jean was a semi-retired mobile hairdresser.

“Jean worked as a mobile hairdresser for more than 40 years but after she retired she carried on going into Garth Court sheltered housing in Huntington and Fulford Nursing Home to do the residents’ hair, and they’re devastated by her death,” she said.

“Richard, who was a care worker when he was younger, had become brilliant at sign language and worked as a learning mentor for deaf children at the school.”

She said Jean and Geoff were "real characters" who were well known at their favourite haunts, such as the Costa cafe in Haxby, which they went in almost every day, and Waitrose in Foss Islands Road, which they visited every week.

“Jean was born in York and then became an apprentice hairdresser and then a mobile hairdresser and did it for 40 years,” she said.

Richard’s cousin David said: “Richard was just so genuine. What you saw was what you got. We’ve got messages from his neighbours saying he was so helpful.”

David’s wife Lisa Richardson said of Jean and Geoff: “Where ever they went they touched people. They were lovely characters, genuine and kind, and Richard was the same.”

She said Richard had been friends with a deaf man from York, Daniel Dorney, of Huntington, who recently walked with a friend from John O’ Groats to Land’s End and raised more than £60,000, partly for Deaf4Deaf, a specialist counselling service which helps deaf people with mental health difficulties.

She said Richard had gone down to Cornwall to welcome them as they arrived.

Elizabeth said a 'service of celebration' for Jean and Richard would take place at St Mary’s Church in Haxby at 11.30am on Friday September 6 and afterwards at Haxby Sports Bar.