North Yorkshire Police 'gobsmacked' after car left wrapped around tree in Harrogate

A police officer said he was "gobsmacked" that no-one was killed in a dramatic crash that left a car wrapped around a tree.

Sgt Paul Cording, of North Yorkshire Police, tweeted a picture of the Vauxhall car following the collision in Harrogate.

The two people in the car were seriously injured, but managed to get themselves out of the wreckage. Their condition is not life-threatening.

Sgt Cording, a roads policing officer, said: "I am still gobsmacked that we were not doing the long walk to someone’s house last night for 'that knock'.

"The intrusion [of the tree] is unbelievable and testament to the advancement in vehicle safety and another reason we bang on all the time about wearing seatbelts."

He tweeted a further picture of the car after it had been removed from the tree and expressed his thanks "to all those who assisted at the scene". Enquiries into what happened are continuing.

In November last year the force launched its "fatal five" campaign – aiming to reduce the number of serious collisions on the county's roads.

It highlighted the five factors which are responsible for most fatal crashes: careless driving, drink and drug driving, failure to wear a seatbelt, speeding and distracted driving, including mobile phone use.

The campaign followed 20 fatal collisions in North Yorkshire in five months.

At the time Supt Emma Aldred said: “More than 90% of the collisions we deal with are due to human error. We're doing a lot of work to prevent people making those poor decisions in the first place."