ONE woman was badly hurt in a car smash that closed a main York road to bank holiday traffic for more than five hours.

The accident happened on the A19 Shipton Road yesterday morning when a car travelling into York crashed into another vehicle on the opposite side of the road before hitting a tree near The Mitre pub.

Emergency services were alerted to the scene at about 10.30am.

The 46-year-old local woman driving the car, a green Daihatsu, was trapped inside and had to be freed by firefighters.

She was being treated in York Hospital yesterday after being taken there by ambulance.

Police said she had suffered serious injuries.

A family from Norfolk who were travelling out of York in the other car, a green Vauxhall Zafira, were said to be unhurt.

The back of their vehicle was damaged in the smash.

The impact of the crash was so great that two bollards in the centre of the road were hurled on to the verges.

Traffic constable Sean Grey, at the scene, said the Daihatsu driver, who was on her own in the car, had crossed the centre of the road before crashing into the back of the oncoming car.

"For an unknown reason at this time, she has crossed the centre of the road and collided with the green Vauxhall Zafira travelling out of the city," he said.

There was also a possibility a third vehicle could have been involved.

Police closed Shipton Road at its junction with Howard Drive while officers investigated the aftermath of the accident yesterday, bringing heavy traffic through the adjoining narrow roads as cars were diverted down Rawcliffe Lane.

Cordons were put up preventing passersby coming through.

Local city councillor Mark Waudby, who was working in Shipton Road Stores near the accident at the time, said it was very unusual for the A19 to be closed.

"The first I knew (about it) was all the traffic," he said. "The last time Shipton Road was shut off like this was in the 2000 floods. That shows how rarely this road gets shut."

The road was eventually reopened to traffic at 3.45pm.

TC Grey asked witnesses to the accident to phone North Yorkshire Police on 0845 6060247.