A woman was killed yesterday when her bicycle and a milk delivery van collided.

Catherine Hield, a postal worker, died in hospital shortly after the accident, despite attempts by paramedics to save her.

The 24-year-old had been on her way to work on her mountain bike at 4.30am when the accident happened at the junction of Huntington Road and Haley's Terrace, in York.

News of the tragedy was broken to her colleagues at the Birch Park delivery office in Huntington Road, where she had worked since August.

A Royal Mail spokesman said shocked staff observed a minute's silence in her memory today. He said the mood among staff was sombre, and that the thoughts of her former colleagues were with her family and friends.

The van driver, an employee of Dairygate, which operates from the Associated Co-operative Creameries depot in Hull Road, was not hurt, but a spokesperson for the company said the 56-year-old driver was shaken.