Two Killed In Crash

Police are questioning five people over a car crash near Bradford involving a stolen car which left two women dead.

Two men aged 22, along with two 15-year-old girls and a 19-year-old woman, were arrested after the stolen Mercedes they were travelling in collided with a Ford Fiesta.

The two 48-year-old women in the Fiesta died from injuries they suffered in the crash, according to West Yorkshire Police.

A force spokesman revealed the incident was being investigated by the Independent Police Complaints Commission after a police vehicle was alerted to the stolen red Mercedes CLK 200 just before the crash.

The crash happened in the Apperley Bridge area near the junction of Apperley Road and Harrogate Road, close to the Stansfield Arms pub.

The five people in the Mercedes were taken to hospitals in Leeds and Bradford to be treated for non-life-threatening injuries, and all five were arrested in connection with the crash.

Police have appealed for witnesses to contact them.

Copyright © Press Association 2009

Sion Kingston from law firm Irwin Mitchell said: “ This is a tragic case.  It appears that the car involved was stolen and the driver and other occupants have been arrested in connection with the crash.  My sympathies go to the families of the two women who have needlessly died.

“The precise circumstances of the crash are still being investigated and it is presently uncertain as to what exactly happened; whether the police were in pursuit of the car or not.  What is clear however is that two women have lost their lives as a consequence of the crash.

“If this was a crash caused by a stolen car speeding through the streets, this again raises the issue of whether the penalties imposed for dangerous driving are sufficiently severe to act as a deterrent.  If people are still prepared to steal cars and to drive them at speed through the streets, it would suggest that they are not.

“This is not a one off incident.  Crashes involving stolen and uninsured cars are sadly a regular occurrence.  My firm has been and is involved in many cases on behalf of members of the public who are injured or who have suffered the loss of a family member as a consequence of such crashes.  The only saving grace is that the mere fact that the car is stolen and/or is uninsured does not prevent compensation being obtained.  The insurance and legal systems provide a number of different means by which compensation can be secured.”