Tributes have been paid to a 22-year-old father-of-two who died in a road accident.

Craig Ratcliffe was killed in Dick Lane, Tyersal, Bradford, as he rode his Aprilia scooter to work.

Only a fortnight before, he and his fiancee Melanie Haigh had been celebrating the birth of their second son Thomas.

Craig's parents Phil and Kath Ratcliffe were on holiday in Spain when they received news of his death last Tuesday morning and flew back the same day.

Mr Ratcliffe, 50, of Moorview Drive, Wrose, paid tribute to his "generous and hard-working" son whose death has devastated his family.

He said: "You get a knot in your stomach which just won't go away and it is there all the time.

"You get an hour or two where you don't seem too bad and then you're just left to pity and despair." Mr Ratcliffe and his wife, 48, took Thomas's brother Elliot, two, to Diggerland in Castleford yesterday as an early birthday present - a trip Craig had planned.

"When Elliot was asking if he was working, Craig would say yes, I'm saving pennies for you for Diggerland'. So we thought it would be nice just to take him," he said.

"Elliot has seen us through this - he is helping us all. While he knows his dad's gone he doesn't really grasp the concept that he's gone forever."

Fighting back tears, Mr Ratcliffe said Craig, who worked as a maintenance controller for Aquarius Leasing, in Tong Street, Dudley Hill, was a loving father to his children and fiancee to Mel.

He said: "He was wonderful with his children and wonderful with Mel, they adored each other.

"Mel has told Elliot that dad has gone to heaven. Elliot has had two fish that died and he asked if he will he meet Scoobie and Shaggy, who were the two fish."

Craig, who suffered from arthritis, also worked part-time as a chef two nights a week. Mr Ratcliffe, a self- employed mechanic, said: "He was a really hard working lad all the way through his life - he used to help me at the garage from being about 12.

"Even though he suffered from psoriasis and arthritis he would force himself out of bed to put in the hours.

"He used to have a paper round as well. When he was about 12 he saved his money from his paper round and it was our wedding anniversary so he booked us a table at a restaurant.

"He even rung them and asked how much a bottle of wine would be and gave us the money in an envelope."

A minute's silence for Craig was held at Eccleshill United's matches this weekend. Mr Ratcliffe is the club's physiotherapist and Craig played there from the age of seven to 17.

Eccleshill United secretary Paul Jarvis said: "Our thoughts and condolences as a whole club are with Phil Ratcliffe and his family at this time of grief for them.

"There are no tragedies in sport but unfortunately there are in life and things like this put everything in perspective."

Mr Ratcliffe gave his thanks to all the emergency services crews who tried to help his son at the scene of the accident which involved a Ford Focus and a Mini Cooper, and to police liaison officer Christian Worsnop who has helped the family.

Craig's funeral takes place at Nab Wood Crematorium on Friday at 11.40am.

An inquest into his death has been opened and adjourned pending further investigations.

e-mail: james.rush @bradford.newsquest.co.uk