Three people have been injured in yet another accident at a gap on the A64 between York and Tadcaster.

A Ford Escort trying to cross through the gap in the central reservation near the Aagrah restaurant was in collision with a BMW travelling along the west-bound carriageway.

The heavy impact left the Escort in the restaurant car park. The BMW driver and the Escort driver and passenger were treated at the scene by paramedics before being taken to York District Hospital.

Escort passenger Simon Winterburn, 19, of Tang Hall Lane, York, who suffered a serious arm injury, was in a "satisfactory" condition today. The driver Keith Glenton, of Ladymill Garth, Clifton, was allowed home after treatment. The BMW driver has not yet been identified.

The smash, which happened at 5.50pm last night, is just the latest to occur on one of the dual carriageway's notorious gap accident blackspots.

The Highways Agency recently announced that one gap, at Colton Lane End, where there have been a string of accidents, will be shut for an experimental 12-month period.

But today the agency was urged to keep open a small gap to let cyclists and pedestrians through.

David Nunns, footpaths secretary of the Ramblers Association, says that otherwise, walkers, cyclists and horse riders will have to use the other gap 200 yards along the A64 at Bilbrough Top.

The agency said it had yet to be convinced that leaving a small gap was a safe option.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.