A senior firefighter said six people in a car which overturned and then skidded along the road on its roof in an early hours crash were lucky to survive.

Shipley fire crews were called to the accident in Hollins Hill, Baildon, shortly before 3am yesterday.

Watch Commander Lee Miller is now warning of the dangers of having too many passengers in a vehicle.

“The six young adults had a miraculous escape. The car was on its roof and in quite a bad way, but there was just one walking wounded casualty with a gash above her forehead,” he said.

“They were obviously shocked. It looked like the car had gone a fair way on its roof.”

He said safety features of the new white Suzuki hatchback most likely saved the lives of the three men and three women, in their early 20s, who were left badly shaken by the accident.

“They were very lucky given the fact that there were more people in the car than there should have been. They weren’t all wearing seatbelts.

“They were very lucky that there weren’t any fatalities. If it hadn’t been such a new car with the technology that makes them so strong, there could have been,” Mr Miller said.

“The car was virtually intact apart from a cracked windscreen and sun roof.”

Mr Miller said the car had been travelling from the Guiseley direction, had hit a grass verge, gone on to the other side of the road and flipped over.

The injured woman was treated at the scene by paramedics and taken to hospital by ambulance for a check-up.

Police are investigating the cause of the incident, which firefighters were at for about an hour.