COUNCILLORS last night warned that more accidents will occur in a country lane where four vehicles were involved in a high speed smash.

The air ambulance was called to Cottingley Moor Road, not far from the village primary school which had just shut for the day, when the crash occurred at 3.20pm yesterday.

VIDEO: AIR AMBULANCE IS CALLED TO FOUR VEHICLE SMASH THAT CLOSED COTTINGLEY ROAD

It involved a silver Volkswagen Golf, a red Renault Megane coupe, a grey Volkswagen Beetle, and a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van.

The road had to be shut in both directions as emergency services worked to free casualties and make the area safe.

One witnesses said one of the cars had been "racing" down the hill from the direction of Sandy Lane direction, side-swiped the van and collided with two other cars, leaving one on its roof.

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The red Renault could be seen overturned, with a silver VW Golf embedded in a stone wall into which it had crashed at speed, with the VW Beetle close by.

A Yorkshire Ambulance spokesman said reports of an overturned car came in at 3.19pm. It dispatched a rapid response vehicle, two ambulances and the air ambulance.

Fire crews from Shipley and Bingley stations were called to the scene of the crash at about 3.25pm.

Firefighters cut the roof off the Golf to free a passenger, who was then flown by air ambulance to Leeds General Infirmary for treatment.

Watch Commander Chris Hargreaves, of Shipley fire station, said the casualty was a male aged 18 or 19 and added that he had suspected neck injuries.

He said: “It was lucky that other people were not seriously injured because it was quite a big impact. There was a lot of damage to the front of the Golf.”

A West Yorkshire police spokesman last night said he had no full details of other casualties.

Marked in white on both sides of the road are the words 'slow' and Councillor Baroness Margaret Eaton (Con, Bingley Rural) speed restrictions changed on the road from 40mph to 30mph on the approach to the mini roundabout at the junction with Bradford Road

Cllr Eaton said: "The crash was just waiting to happen. It's problematic and it's a poor road.

"Whatever the circumstances have been I have serious concerns about the roads and traffic in Cottingley.

"It's a narrow road. The primary school has been made bigger taking in younger children and they are planning on putting a new build at Samuel Lister school. This was just waiting to happen, it's a very poor road."

She added: "That road is horrendously dangerous. They come down it like bats out of hell. It's not the first time it's been shut because of an accident in the last few months and yet they still talk about building houses in the fields along it and expanding the schools. The road is too narrow and there's no where for it to go because it's in a narrow valley.

Fellow Conservative ward Councillor Michael Ellis said he shared Cllr Eaton's concerns and added: "There's an unbelievable amount of traffic on that road and it's got worse. The whole road network there is unsafe."