A teenager who saw a car plunge down a 140-foot rock face has told how the elderly woman driver rang her husband to tell her she was alright.

Andy Hutchings, 18, was with four friends climbing the Cow and Calf Rock in Ilkley when a Suzuki Vitara being driven by the disabled Silsden woman left the road.

"We heard a screech and when we turned round we saw the car had left the road and was rolling over," says Andy, of Otley. "It stopped by a tree and we ran to see if whoever was in it was alright. We didn't know how close we could get and we were worried it could have been very messy."

andy says they were able to get close to the car and saw an elderly lady in it. "She told us she was okay," he says. "we rang the emergency services from a mobile phone. The lady then rang her husband to say she had been in an accident and that she was alright."

Andy says the friends did not want to move the lady for fear of injuring her and that they reassured her until emergency crews arrived.

A tree 60 feet down the cliff stopped the car from hurtling 80 feet further down the banking and careering into a row of houses at the bottom.

Firefighters and police, who say the 70-year-old is lucky to be alive, winched the woman to safety in a delicate 45-minute rescue operation. She was taken to Airedale Hospital where she was detained with minor injuries.

Police believe that the woman, who does not wish to be named, could have been stranded half-way down the rock face if the boys had not alerted the emergency services.

Fire, ambulance and police rushed to the incident which happened at about 9.25pm on Tuesday near the Cow and Calf Rocks in Hangingstone Road, Ben Rhydding, Ilkley,

Insp Alison Bennett, of Ilkley police, says the woman is lucky to be alive. "It could have been fatal," she says. "The vehicle rolled over and down the banking, hitting the tree, which stopped it ploughing into the houses.

"She's an amazing woman and was very calm.

"The five lads reacted well and should be praised for their actions."

A spokesman from Idle fire station in Bradford also says the woman had a lucky escape. "It is a very steep drop and she had gone down about 60 feet before the tree stopped the car," he says. "She is very lucky."

Firefighters used a winch from Idle's heavy rescue tender to stabilise the car. The woman was taken to the bottom of the steep drop in a basket stretcher and rushed to Airedale Hospital.

A West Yorkshire Police spokesman says that her injuries were minor and that she was detained in hospital overnight as a precaution. "There was no other vehicle involved in the incident," says the spokesman. "The rescue was made difficult by the gradient and the bracken. If the accident had not been seen by the young men then she could have been there for some time."

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