A TEENAGER was taken to hospital after she was stabbed in an early morning incident in York.

As police investigators combed the house in Hewley Avenue, near Hull Road, neighbours spoke of their shock at being woken by flashing blue lights at 4am yesterday.

They had looked on in horror as the young woman - suffering from a single stab wound - was led out of the house into a waiting ambulance.

In the wake of the stabbing, officers arrested a woman, and she was taken to York Police Station, where she was bailed pending further enquiries.

The 18-year-old woman who was stabbed was taken to York Hospital, but police said her injury was not life-threatening.

Miranda Legg, 45, lives next door to the house where the dramatic incident unfolded. Miss Legg, a cleaner, said: "The first I heard was the sound of an ambulance engine running. It was about 4am, so it was still quite dark. I got out of bed and looked out of my window.

"I saw paramedics take a girl out of the house and put her into the ambulance. She was able to walk to the ambulance, and it stayed parked outside for quite a while. Since then the police have been coming and going all day."

Miss Legg said she was shocked that a teenager could be stabbed in normally-peaceful Hewley Avenue. She said: "It's usually very quiet. I heard a bit of banging earlier on, but I didn't think anything of it at the time.

"There are a lot of elderly people around here, and when I saw the ambulance, at first I just put it down to either that, or some kind of fight in the street. I never imagined it could be so serious.

"I hope the girl is all right. It sounds like the incident could have been much worse."

Updated: 09:46 Tuesday, May 16, 2006