A MARRIED vicar has been suspended after claims that he had an affair with a parishioner.

The Rev Simon Lloyd, vicar of Minehead, Somerset, is being investigated over the allegations.

The action was revealed to the congregation at a morning service at St Andrew's Church by the Archdeacon of Taunton, the Venerable John Reed. Mr Lloyd, who is married to Susie and has a young daughter, is understood not to have left the family home in Minehead.

But he will not take any services or carry out pastoral duties until an investigation into the allegations has been completed and the issue resolved.

Prebendary John Andrews, communications officer for the Bath and Wells Diocese, said Mr Lloyd accepted an invitation to take voluntary suspension when the claims were put to him.

An inquiry was being conducted by Mr Reed and appropriate action would be taken. Mr Andrews said if the claims were found to be unsubstantiated, Mr Lloyd would be reinstated.

If not, the matter would go to the Clergy Disciplinary Measure, which would then involve the Bishop of Bath and Wells, the Rt Rev Peter Price.

Mr Andrews said services at Minehead churches would not be disrupted while the inquiry was ongoing and the pastoral care of the parish would also be taken care of under the guidance of the rural dean, the Rev Stephen Stuckes, vicar of St Michael's Church, Alcombe.

Mr Lloyd has been in charge of the Minehead parish for the past six years. A former nurse, he spent 10 years working with critically ill children at Birmingham's city hospital, where he met his wife, also a nurse.

He went to school in Bath before studying psychology in Portsmouth and theology in Oxford, going on to work in Derbyshire, Nottingham and the West Midlands.

His last parish before coming to Minehead, Solihull in the West Midlands, had no permanent church building and the congregation held Sunday services in a school hall.

After his institution in Minehead, Mr Lloyd said he believed the church should go where the people were.

"I hope to support and encourage Christians in Minehead in all the things they are doing to demonstrate God's love and care to residents and visitors alike," he said.