Two young women were rescued by firefighters after their car overturned on an icy countryside road near Brampton.

It happened just after 9am today on the B689a mile from Milton village. Fire crews from Carlisle East and Brampton arrived to find the two women trapped in their overturned Hyundai car, a short distance from where another car slid off the road in an earlier accident.

A Cumbria Fire & Rescue Service spokesman said that the crews used specialist equipment to free the women, who did not appear to be serious hurt. Both were checked over by paramedics.

The spokesman said passers-by had helped the occupants from the car involve in the earlier accident.

He added that the cause of the accident was probably the icy weather which this morning left untreated roads across the county slippery.

In some areas, temperatures earlier today were as low as -4C.