Firefighters had to cut free the driver of a coach involved in a collision with a petrol tanker on the A66 trans-Pennine route.

The coach was one of three carrying over 100 children from Scotland caught up in the accident which happened near the Fox Hall Inn, near Ravensworth, North Yorkshire, at 10.30am today.

The woman bus driver was cut free from the wreckage and airlifted to James Cook Hospital, Middlesbrough, where her condition was serious but not life threatening.

The road was closed off as emergency crews worked to free the female coach driver.

A total of 47 children were ferried to hospital following the five vehicle smash.

Seven children were taken to Darlington Memorial Hospital with minor injuries. The rest were taken to the Fox Hall Inn car park where paramedics assessed any possible injuries.

The children, aged 12 to 14, are from the John Ogilvie High School at Hamilton, near Glasgow. They had been en-route to Lightwater Valley, near Ripon.

A spokesman for North Yorkshire Police said that there was no danger from the contents of the tanker.

The tanker and four coaches were all travelling east towards Scotch Corner when they shunted into each other at speed. All four coaches were involved in the smash.

Traffic Sgt Steve Ball, stationed at Harrogate, was greeted with a scene of "absolute mayhem."

He said: "I wasn't the first on the scene, other services were here at the time attending to the children and the injured driver. It was absolute mayhem to say the least.

"The children didn't know what had happened and were obviously very scared.

"It happened as a line of vehicles were travelling towards Scotch Corner.

"A red van at the front of the queue had stopped at a junction to turn right into the Fox Hall Inn.

"The rest of the vehicles slowed but for some reason the last coach collided and shunted them all forward.

"All four coaches were full with around 50 children on each. As paramedics assessed the injuries there were several children injured.

"There were seven youngsters in a more serious condition and they were the first to be taken to hospital.

"In total we have about 47 casualties, the most serious being the female bus driver who had to be cut from the front of the vehicle.

"It could have been a whole lot worse especially with a tanker involved. "We quickly got things under control and thinsg ahve been left in the hands of the collision investigation unit.

"They are now carrying on their enquiries as the road is still closed.

"The A66 will remain closed until they have concluded their enquiry."

Workmen described the panic when more than 100 schoolchildren staggered screaming from the pile-up.

The group of three landscapers were erecting a fence yesterday when three of the four busloads of children collided with the tanker. Hordes of terrified youngsters poured from the coaches, limping and bleeding.

Witness Martyn Dee, 33, saw the crash. He said: "I had just turned round to get something from the van and was facing the road when I saw everything happen.

"There was a red van which was heading East and was turning right.

Everything had almost stopped apart from the last coach. That just ploughed straight into the back of the coach and shunted them all forward.

"The damage was prettty bad. I could not believe it all happened in front of me. I just went into action stations and rang the services.

"My mate Jimmy ran to the road to stop the oncoming traffic.

"The kids started pouring off the busses. There was absolutely loads of them, and they were all screaming, mainly out of shock.

"Some of them were limping and a couple were holding their heads, which were bleeding, but there was only a handful of them injured. "It was the lass driving the third coach we were all worried about.

"She was trapped in her seat from the top of her legs down.

"She was in her mid thirties and she was drifting in and out of conciousness, screaming every now and then.

"It took them about an hour and a half to get her out and she was airlifted to hospital. It looked quite bad.

"The kids calmed down after about 15 minutes and went into the pub for treatment.

"After about two hours the first coach left and someone said the kids were on their way to Lightwater Valley."

Police crash investigators were at the scene investigating the remains of the two coaches which received the full force of the crash and were smashed at the front.

Paramedics left the scene as the children were driven away.