A180: Ulceby Road Safety Group urges A180 upgrade after deaths

Three-year-old Lucas Page and his mother Nicola Courtney died in the crash on the A180

A road safety group in Lincolnshire has said the A180 should be upgraded to motorway status following a fatal crash.

The comments come after Nicola Courtney, 34, and her three-year-old son Lucas Page, died when their broken-down car was hit by a lorry on Friday.

Stuart Smith, from the Ulceby Road Safety Group, said that "at the very least" a safety lane should be built.

North East Lincolnshire Council has been approached for comment.

Ms Courtney and her son, from Scunthorpe, were in a stationary blue Ford Focus in a live lane when it was hit by a lorry at about 21:25 GMT on a stretch of the A180 between Stallingborough and Brocklesby.

The circumstances of the incident are still the subject of a Humberside Police investigation and the force has also referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).

Ulceby village is situated about 0.5 miles (0.8km) north of the A180 and its road safety group has been campaigning for improvements for several years.

Any diversion on the A180 sees additional traffic passing through the village.

"We have had meetings with National Highways, meetings with the council and the MP, and we have said this road, the amount of traffic going down it is unbelievable, it needs upgrading to a motorway standard," Mr Smith said.

The crash happened on a stretch of the A180 in North East Lincolnshire

Mr Smith said the government's own figures suggest 40,000 vehicles a day use the A160, which links the docks at Immingham to the A180, of which 70% are HGVs

He said while he did not know what had happened in Ms Courtney's case, the A180 was a "dangerous" place to be.

"On the A180 the lanes are always live there is no hard shoulder or anywhere for people to go in rescue, apart from a few laybys.

"It needs a safety lane building at least, at the moment you don't see that."