A DAD-TO-BE feared for his girlfriend and their unborn child when their car was struck from behind in a late night hit-and-run accident in York.

Shaun Littlewood said Sophie Jackson, 21, of Dringhouses, who is 33 weeks pregnant, was a front seat passenger when their Vauxhall Corsa was shunted into a signpost on the A19/York Outer Ring Road roundabout at Rawcliffe.

He said the driver of a VW Golf which ran into the back of their car ran off, along with another person, towards the city, but other motorists stopped to help look after his shocked girlfriend until she could be taken to hospital.

"They checked her out and fortunately, she was all right and the baby is OK," said Mr Littlewood, 23, from Holgate.

"I also went to hospital, along with Sophie's mother Jane and her mother's friend Debbie, who were sitting in the back. We were all suffering from shock and whiplash - Jane's whiplash was so bad that she could barely walk yesterday, and we're all pretty sore."

He said they had all been returning along the A19 from a wedding near Byland Abbey, Coxwold, when the accident happened at about midnight on Saturday evening.

"I could see the VW in my rear view mirror for just a split second when it hit me with a very loud bang," he said.

"My car was written off, as was the VW."

North Yorkshire Police said that a man and another occupant of the VW ran off after the collision but a 25-year-old York man was later arrested on suspicion of drink driving and failing to stop after an accident, and then released on police bail to a later date.