FOUR members of a family – including a newlywed couple – have died after a head-on crash.

Two men, aged 58 and 63, and two women, aged 57 and 60, travelling towards Scarborough in a Suzuki car died at the scene following a collision with a lorry and another car near a sharp bend on the A64 at Scampston Bridge, outside Rillington.

North Yorkshire coast and moors landscape artist Joy Green and her long-serving council conservation officer husband Derek, who had worked in Whitby for many years, had been returning with the bride and groom from their wedding in Leeds.

Circumstances surrounding the incident at 3.40pm on Friday remain unclear, but police said the 26-year-old man driving the lorry and a motorist driving a Honda Jazz car were uninjured.

In a tribute on Facebook, Joy and Derek Green’s daughter Melanie Ann said: “I know a great many people loved my parents, they were amazing, wonderful, weird people, they opened their hearts to the entire world. They were my world. In all honesty I feel like the world has just ended.”

Mrs Green, who was a well-known member of the Yorkshire coast art community, had spent recent weekends at art fairs in Whitby and Danby, on the North York Moors.

Police issued an appeal for witnesses, hours before reporting another serious crash on the road near Flaxton, between a heavy goods vehicle and a car, at 4.25pm on Monday. yesterday. North Yorkshire Police said the road was reopened to traffic at about 5.45pm, and those involved in the crash had suffered minor injuries.

Sgt Paul Cording said he believed witnesses to the Scampston Bridge incident may have been so horrified by what they saw that they drove off. He said: “You have not only the people who were involved with the collision, but you have got the witnesses that were just driving by or turned up just afterwards to see the aftermath of what can only be described as total devastation.

“Some people may have been traumatised and driven on, which is not a problem, but if anyone witnessed it please get in touch. If anyone has any dashcam footage which they think may be significant, it may just help us to piece together our investigations.”

North Yorkshire County councillor David Jeffels said Mr Green had been a very well respected and long-serving council officer and his colleagues had been devastated by the news.

He said the notorious stretch of road needed extra road safety measures, such as flashing warning signs. “The road isn’t capable of coping with the volume of traffic. People find they can’t overtake and there is a lot of frustration.”

Witnesses to the collision or anyone who saw either vehicle prior to the crash should phone police on 101, select option two and ask for Lee Cobb of Major Collision Investigation Team. Or email Lee.Cobb@northyorkshire.pnn.police.uk