A motorcyclist and pillion passenger were killed in a traffic collision at Burley-in-Wharfedale during foggy conditions.

A 54-year-old man who was riding the bike, and a 36-year-old woman who was riding pillion, were pronounced dead at the scene of the crash, on the A65.

Their Yamaha motorbike was in collision with a Land Rover Discovery towing a trailer at about 3.15pm on Saturday.

Police are appealing for witnesses.

The stretch of the busy road, between Burley-in-Wharfedale and Menston, was closed off on Saturday afternoon as police investigated the cause of the collision.

Local First Responder team leader, Brian Firth, who was driving in the area shortly after the incident, stopped and offered to assist emergency services with life support.

“I offered my assistance but they told me two people had died,” he said.

The man and woman, who have yet to be named by police, are believed to be local to the area. Floral tributes were laid at the scene over the weekend.

A card left at the scene read: “To Alan and Emma, sadly missed, from friends and colleagues.”

The collision happened just three days after a two-car crash on the road, in which an elderly woman had to be freed by firefighters.

Emergency services were called to a collision on the A65 at Burley at about 6.30pm last Wednesday, between the Burley village roundabout and Sandholme Drive junction.

The road was closed for two hours as firefighters worked to free a woman, believed to be in her 70s, from an upturned Ford Fiesta. She was cut out of the vehicle and taken to hospital by ambulance, but is not thought to have suffered serious injuries.

And an 80-year-old woman pedestrian suffered facial injuries in a collision with a vehicle on the A65 at Burley, close to the junction with Endor Crescent, on Friday.

Any witnesses to the fatal accident should contact West Yorkshire Police’s major collision and enquiry team by calling 101.