Investigators were today looking into a three-vehicle crash in North Yorkshire which left two police motorcycle instructors seriously hurt.

The officers suffered broken bones in the accident which happened as they were leading a convoy of five police bikers along the A170 between Kirkbymoorside and Pickering.

They were the instructors in a police advanced motorcycling course, based at the West Yorkshire Police driving school near Wakefield.

Sergeant George Mead, of North Yorkshire Police, said: "The two motorcyclists were involved in a collision with a blue BMW, which was travelling towards Wrelton, at the junction of Wrelton Cliff Road.

"They both suffered serious injuries and were taken to Scarborough Hospital by ambulance."

The BMW driver has been named as Andrea Tranter, of Nunnington, near Helmsley.

She escaped uninjured, Sgt Mead said.

Police said the names of the injured officers were being withheld at the request of their families.

Dave Roberts, who lives on the A170 just a mile from the accident, described the scene as "a real mess."

Mr Roberts said: "I didn't see the accident itself, but I went up there not long after and saw what a mess the place was in.

"It was the state of the car, more than the bikes, that shocked me.

"From the back it didn't look too bad, but the front end was a real wreck."

Mr Roberts said he regularly sees the aftermath of road crashes on the A170. But he said he has never seen as many police vehicles at an accident.

"The place was swarming with police and the road was shut for quite some time.

"I've never seen anything quite like it before."

A spokesperson for West Yorkshire Police said today that one of the officers suffered a broken leg and the other a broken ankle.

North Yorkshire police spokesman Tony Lidgate said the accident would be investigated as a routine road accident, though an internal police report would be prepared.

There are no plans for an independent review and no-one had been arrested or charged in connection with the incident, he added.

The crash happened at about 3pm yesterday.

Updated: 10:45 Tuesday, June 12, 2001