AN ELDERLY couple had to be taken to hospital with serious injuries after their car was in collision with another vehicle and overturned.

North Yorkshire Police are appealing for witnesses to the incident, which happened at 5.45pm yesterday on the A64 westbound carriageway, half a mile east of the junction with the A1 at Bramham Cross.

The road was closed for about two hours following the collision.

A police spokesman said a light blue Ford Focus in which the couple were travelling struck a silver VW Passat from behind.

Both cars were travelling in the same direction.

"The Focus then struck the crash barrier and overturned, trapping the occupants," he said.

The Passat came to rest on the outside lane, facing the way it was travelling.

The Focus's elderly occupants suffered serious injuries and were taken to Harrogate Hospital, said the police spokesman.

An ambulance service spokeswoman said four ambulances and a rapid response vehicle attended the scene. She said one of the patients taken to Harrogate was a man in his 80s was with suspected chest and shoulder injuries.

Four other patients, believed to be occupants of the Passat, were taken to St James' Hospital in Leeds, including a man in his mid-fifties with lower leg and back injuries.

Witnesses should phone police on 0845 6060247.

Updated: 09:41 Monday, January 30, 2006