FOUR members of a family - including a newlywed couple - have died after a head-on crash on a road dubbed the most dangerous in the North.

Two men, aged 58 and 63, and two women, aged 57 and 60, were travelling towards the coast 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, in Ryedale, North Yorkshire.

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 yesterday. North Yorkshire Police said the road was reopen 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 insignificant, it may just help us to piece together our investigations."

The incident follows a five-car pile-up in which a 87-year-old driver died in February and a collision between a car and a lorry in December, both at the same spot, look set to reignite demands for a bypass in the area.

A bypass was first suggested before the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 and a route south of Rillington was pegged out but, with the outbreak of the war, it was abandoned.

Concerns over road safety near the grade II listed bridge, which it is thought was designed by Capability Brown in the 18th century so to be visible from Scampston Hall, have rumbled on for decades.

There have been 24 deaths on the road since 2010, but in December police figures revealed fatalities on the road had dramatically fallen, leading to Whitby and Scarborough MP and then transport minister Robert Goodwill to suggest vehicle safety improvements, coupled with improved road markings and driver’s attitudes were behind the drop.

North Yorkshire Police said its partnership with Highways England and the introduction of central barrier reflectors to reduce accidents caused through loss of control, had also contributed to the fall in serious accidents.

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 added the notorious stretch of road needed extra road safety measures, such as flashing warning signs.

He added: "The road isn't capable of coping with with the volume of traffic. People find they can't overtake and there is a lot of frustration."

Witnesses to the collision and anyone who saw either of the vehicles prior to the crash should call police on 101, select option 2 and ask for Lee Cobb of the Major Collision Investigation Team. Or email Lee.Cobb@northyorkshire.pnn.police.uk