A motorist who admitted driving carelessly in an accident which left a father and son dead has escaped with a ban and a fine.

The sentence has caused an outcry among campaigners calling for tougher sentences in the wake of the Jeff Tooley case, the young police officer mown down manning a speed trap in Shoreham nearly two years ago.

Fred Ward, 70, of Foxdale Drive, The Dell, Angmering, yesterday admitted driving without due care at a hearing in Staunton, Gloucestershire.

Gloucester magistrates ordered him to pay a £500 fine, £50 costs and to take another driving test before being allowed back on the road.

The campaign for the tougher sentences was stepped up after convicted robber John Heaton was originally jailed for seven years for causing the death of PC Tooley by his dangerous driving.

His sentence was later cut to five years and he could be released from jail later this year.

In Gloucester, magistrates heard how Peter Trout, 32, and his father William, 65, died when driving in a convoy of motorcycles.

They both died from injuries as a result of the collision on the A417 Gloucester Road, in Hartpury, on August 20, last year.

The father, who was riding pillion, and his son from Gorse, Gloucestershire, were returning from an American car show at Cheltenham racecourse.

The court heard the last words Sheila Trout said to her husband and son as they set off were, "Drive carefully, I do not want to be a widow yet".

But their 900cc Yamaha bike was in collision with Ward's BMW as he pulled out onto the A417 from a side road.

Andrew Bowdler, prosecuting, said it was an example of careless driving with tragic consequences.

Christopher Camp, defending, told magistrates they should consider the degree of careless driving and not just the consequences, however serious.

He said Ward was not in a hurry and was not travelling fast and he had suffered a "momentary lapse of concentration".

He said it was the sort of careless driving most drivers were guilty of at some stage.

He said: "He did look, he simply did not see, and his carelessness is no greater than that."

At an inquest into the two deaths last year, police accident investigator PC Gordon Pearce said: "This accident was caused by Mr Ward pulling out over the give way lines and in doing so, failing to give precedence to the two motorcyclists travelling on the main road in a normal and highly visible manner."

Veronica Tooley, the mother of PC Tooley, said last night: "I feel sick when I hear of cases like this. I feel so sorry for the widow.

"When you hear that someone just getting fined and a ban, it spurs me on in working for the campaign to get more just sentences."

She is currently setting up a box number so people can start writing to her in support of the campaign for tougher sentences and a change in the law so there can be more specific sentences for people involved in accidents where lives are lost.

Sheila Trout, 63, who lost her husband and son in the accident was in tears as she criticised the leniency of the sentence.

She said: "I think it was terrible. He should have been sent away. If he had gone to prison his wife would know what it was like to wake up alone."

She said her other son, Paul, could not face coming over from France where he lives to attend the hearing. She said: "He didn't want Ward's face printed on his brain."

Leaving the court, Ward, who said nothing during the half-hour hearing, said: "I am not relieved at the sentence at all. My continuing anguish is going to go on and on and on."

The maximum sentence for driving without care and attention is a £2,500 fine, a discretionary disqualification, and three to nine penalty points.