Pedestrians who were held up by a fatal road accident complained to police that they could not get into shops cordoned off while rescue workers fought to free the dying woman.

Desperate battle: Police and firefighters jack up the lorry in Gowthorpe, Selby, to free the trapped woman

Shocked police officers said the reaction of shoppers was "unbelievable".

They also condemned the "ghoulish" passers-by who stayed to watch the dramatic incident unfold and refused to move on.

Pensioner Gladys Murfin, 82, of Gant Walk, Selby, later died in York District Hospital from crush injuries.

She was in collision with a lorry yesterday as she tried to cross the road with her shopping trolley near the pelican crossing in Gowthorpe, Selby.

The road, part of the A19, was closed for almost two hours as firefighters used specialist lifting equipment to jack up the lorry and free the woman who was trapped underneath.

The incident attracted scores of shoppers and passers-by as paramedics arrived and police cordoned off the area.

Angry traffic sergeant Iain Spittal said: "Lots of people were complaining because they couldn't get to the shops.

"Some of them even came to the police station to complain - it's unbelievable".

One young woman had to be prevented from ducking under the cordon tape, protesting that she had to get to work.

Sgt Spittal also condemned the "morbid curiosity" of bystanders, many of whom ignored police appeals to move on.

He said: "In the end I had to physically push people out of the way to put the tape up. They just wouldn't move.

"It is a bit ghoulish, but people see so much of it now on their TV screens, they have become slightly immune to the shock aspect of accidents.

"There were people there with kids less than five years old, stood holding their hands watching the emergency services at work".

Sgt Spittal said one of the problems was that two fire engines and a rescue tender were at the scene, and members of the public who refused to move were putting themselves in danger of being hit by equipment.

He added: "We need to get people out of the way to get on with our job, and a sterile area to carry out our investigations".

He said they had written to shop owners in the area, thanking them for their patience while they were cordoned off from customers.

Selby fire station chief Phil Wade said they had used inflatable neoprene rubber bags to lift the front of the lorry so they could stretcher the woman out from under the diesel tank.

Mr Wade also criticised the morbid interest that passers-by had in other people's misfortunes, which he said could be very distressing for the accident victims and did not help the situation.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.