A WOMAN has been arrested on suspicion of drink driving after a crash that left a car 80 foot down an embankment near Bingley.

Fire crews were called to rescue the driver, a 26-year-old woman from Shipley, after her car crashed through a fence and plunged down the embankment, near a popular beauty spot.

The incident happened on Harden Road, near the entrance to the St Ives Estate, shortly before 11pm on Wednesday.

The black Renault Clio left the road, travelled over the pavement and through the wooden fence before sliding down the embankment and coming to a halt when it hit another fence.

Yorkshire Ambulance Service dispatched a rapid response vehicle and an ambulance to the scene.

Police and crews from Bingley and Shipley Fire Stations were also called, and found the woman had pulled herself out of the car but then collapsed at the side of the vehicle.

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They secured the car with a harness attached to a tree to prevent it further sliding down the embankment. The woman was then secured to a bodyboard, carried up the embankment and transferred to Bradford Royal Infirmary. Her injuries were believed to be minor.

No other vehicles were involved in the accident, and the car was removed shortly after its passenger had been rescued.

Watch commander for Bingley Fire Station, Richard Lightowler, said: "We used a winch to make the car safe because it was teetering on the edge of the embankment and could have fallen further down. We assisted the ambulance crew in carrying the woman out on the board in case there were any head or back injuries. She was then taken to hospital by an ambulance."

The crash led to a police investigation, and the vehicle's driver was yesterday arrested on suspicion of driving while over the prescribed alcohol limit. She has been bailed pending the results of a blood test.

The damage to the wooden fence caused by the crash remained yesterday.

There have been several serious accidents on the stretch of road in recent years. In September 2012 supermarket worker Alastair Hellewell, 26, was killed when the car he was travelling in hit a dry stone wall on the road and he was thrown out of the vehicle.

The car's driver, Adam Baker, from Harden, was jailed for 21 months after admitting causing death by dangerous driving.

And in August a car ended up on its roof after its driver lost control while on the road.