A man whose wife was killed in North Yorkshire this week had already lost both his sons in road accidents, it was revealed today.Heartbroken Colin Hunter said: "That's my family wiped out. I'm absolutely devastated.

"I just can't believe it. To lose one child is bad enough, but to lose two and then your life's partner is too much to bear."

Mr Hunter's wife, Eileen, 59, died early on Tuesday morning at the notorious Chapel Haddlesey crossroads on the A19 when her blue Ford Fiesta was in collision with a 38-tonne articulated lorry.

She was on her way to Middlebrook Mushrooms' farm at Whitley Bridge, where she had worked as a supervisor for 20 years.

Today Mr Hunter, 60, revealed that their son, John, was killed in August, 1978, at the age of 11. He had been trying to cross the A1 near Brotherton after a game of football.

Exactly a year later, their second son, Michael, died at the age of 17 when the motorbike he was riding was in collision with a car on the A63 roundabout near Selby Fork.

Mr Hunter, a retired farm worker and British Rail maintenance man, said: "We had just laid flowers in the chapel to commemorate the first anniversary of John's death when we held the funeral service for Michael."

Speaking at his home in Topstone Close, Burton Salmon, near Monk Fryston, a devastated Mr Hunter said: "It's sheer hell, a living nightmare. I just don't know how I'm going to come to terms with it.

"I had been courting Eileen since the age of 15. She was a lovely, caring lady.

"At least when our sons died, we had each other to get through it. Now I've got no-one."

Mr Hunter said his wife normally took Mondays and Tuesdays as her days off, but this week he believed she had swapped shifts to help someone out.

He added: "She had just got her papers from work to apply for retirement. It's so unfair."

Police are appealing for witnesses who saw the two vehicles before Tuesday's accident which happened at 6.35am.

The crossroads at Chapel Haddlesey, next to a hump-backed bridge, have already claimed three lives, as well as being the scene of numerous minor accidents.

The latest fatality has led to renewed calls for traffic lights to be installed.

Mrs Hunter's funeral service will be held at Pontefract Crematorium at 11am on Monday.

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