THREE people had to be cut free from crash wreckage after an accident in York.

Firefighters used cutting equipment to release the three casualties after the head-on collision, involving a Renault Clio and Suzuki Swift.

The accident, which was one of three in York last night, happened at about 4.40pm on the A64/A1036 eastbound sliproad near Copmanthorpe, increasing rush-hour congestion on one of the busiest routes out of York.

Four ambulances attended the scene and treated a 20-year-old woman for chest, stomach, back and neck injuries.

Another woman passenger was released from the Clio with back and face injuries. The male Clio driver received neck injuries and was not trapped, an ambulance spokeswoman confirmed.

Hydraulic cutting equipment was also used to free the Suzuki driver. She had chest, lower leg and neck injuries.

All four victims were taken to York Hospital for treatment. However, emergency services last night confirmed none of the injuries was believed to be life threatening. Police were unable to name the casualties before we went to press.

In a separate accident, a male driver had a lucky escape when his Citroen Saxo hit the central reservation of the westbound A64 near York Racecourse.

That crash, less than a mile from the earlier collision, happened at about 8.20pm and police said the driver was not injured.

A York Police spokesman said the scene of the first crash was cleared shortly after 6pm, but he said no major traffic delays were caused. He refused to comment on whether torrential rain played a factor in either crash.

Paramedics were also called out to Fulford Road in York just before 10pm after a pedestrian was involved in a collision with a Hyundai Accent outside Imphal Barracks. A police spokesman said the pedestrian, 22-year-old Rayaz Rashid, suffered severe facial cuts and a broken nose, and was taken by ambulance to York Hospital.

Today, a pedestrian escaped serious injury after a collision with a bus at traffic lights in Coppergate at 7.20am.

Paramedics and police officers attended the scene, but the woman did not want to be taken to hospital.

Updated: 10:16 Thursday, October 14, 2004