Couple escape blazing wreck

They were driving a Ford Maverick on the A1237 near the Knapton and Beckfield Lane junctions when the vehicle went out of control, a fire service spokeswoman said.

She said the call to them said the car had burst into flames.

When firefighters arrived the male driver and female passenger had got out and were uninjured. "They were lucky," she said.

Firefighters from York Fire Station put out the blaze. The incident happened at about 9.30pm yesterday.

Meanwhile, a Peugeot 306 was destroyed after being deliberately set alight in Fetter Lane, Bishophill, York, at 3.10am today.

The fire service spokeswoman said the blaze also affected a building which the car was parked under, but this was a residential building which was under construction, so no one was in it at the time.

At 2.04am a taxi was partially damaged by fire in Carr Lane, Acomb.

A fire service spokeswoman said the blaze began in the passenger side of the Peugeot 406, because of faulty wiring.

Firefighters managed to save most of the vehicle and it was left with 30 per cent severe fire damage and 20 per cent heat damage.

An ambulance service spokeswoman said nobody was injured.

Meanwhile, a pedestrian who was killed in a collision with a car on a North Yorkshire road is believed to be a middle-aged local man.

However, police had not formally identified the man today.

Officers were still appealing for witnesses who saw the accident, or the man - wearing blue jeans and a black jacket - who sustained fatal injuries in the accident shortly after midnight on Sunday.

He had been walking along the road on the B1257 between Malton and the village of Broughton before the collision with a silver BMW estate car, being driven towards Malton by a woman.

He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Anyone in the area who saw the accident, the man, or the way the BMW was being driven, should phone PC Stuart Langford on 01723 509555.

Updated: 10:01 Tuesday, May 10, 2005