Highways chiefs may close a crawler lane on the A64 between Malton and York to prevent more carnage.

The Highways Agency is considering the move at Golden Hill, where six people have died in the last four years.

A crawler lane on the incline enables motorists to overtake slow-moving lorries and other vehicles but there are concerns about the dangers created during the overtaking manoeuvre.

Andrew and Emma Leedham, an elderly couple from Murrough Wilson Place, off Wigginton Road, York, were killed in November 1999 as they tried an overtaking manoeuvre at Golden Hill.

Their Nissan Micra collided with an articulated lorry already in the outside lane when they pulled out to overtake and were shunted into the path of an oncoming HGV.

Three years to the day earlier, at the same spot, Julian Littler and Nicholas Mitchell, both 27 and from the York area, died when their MG Midget spun out of control and hit a Peugeot.

An agency spokeswoman said that it was in consultation with the police at the moment over the dangers at Golden Hill, and one of the first options under consideration was to close the crawler lane for an experimental period.

Ryedale MP John Greenway said today he would support the closure.

He said that overtaking on the bends towards the top of Golden Hill was extremely dangerous.

Coun Keith Orrell, leader of the Liberal Democrat group on Ryedale District Council and prospective Parliamentary candidate for Ryedale, said today he felt closure of the overtaking lane was inevitable in the wake of all the accidents.

The agency has also revealed that a delayed public consultation exercise over proposals for a bypass at Rillington, between Malton and Scarborough is now likely to go ahead later this year.

The Evening Press reported earlier this year that the consultation was expected to be held during the summer.

The agency spokeswoman said the date had slipped but it was hoped that a consultation could now take place towards the end of November.

The agency is also considering a number of options to improve access and egress from Malton on to the town's A64 bypass.