Dad-of-one Keith Wealands, 22, was on his way home from a match when the car he was in left the John Reid Road, South Shields, and ploughed into a tree.

The driver had been drinking.

Seven years on, the pain of that day is still as raw as ever for his devastated family, and they have welcomed new plans which could see drivers prosecuted after drinking less than a pint of beer or a glass of wine.

The move is part of a shake-up of the drink-drive laws, and recommends the legal limit be slashed from 80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood to 50mg.

The current level means a man of average build could drink two pints of normal-strength beer or three small glasses of wine and still be within the law.

With a 50mg limit, the average man would be over the limit after just one pint or a large glass of wine.

Keith's father Paul Wealands, of Ewart Crescent, Simonside, South Shields, said: "This year, for some reason, has been particularly bad for us and for his daughter.

"It's just as if it all just happened yesterday. We seem to be living in some kind of void. It's only the grandchildren who are keeping us going.

"I don't think anyone should be drinking if they are then going to be getting behind the wheel – it's just like giving someone a gun.

"I am all for anything which involves harsher punishments for people who drink and drive or is going to stop people from drink-driving."

The Government believes that cutting the legal limit would prevent up to 65 deaths and 230 serious injuries a year.

Meanwhile, Sir Peter North, author of the forthcoming review into drink and drug-driving laws, is thought to be considering an even lower legal limit of 20mg for novice motorists and HGV drivers.

Keith, of Peel Gardens, South Shields, and a former Boldon Comprehensive School pupil, had a daughter, Megan, and played for South Shields Football Club.