POLICE are appealing for witnesses to a late night road accident in which a young man died.

Richard Bales, aged 22, from Lodge Road, Alsager, was driving a car which was involved in a head-on collision with a bus.

Mr Bales, an electrical technician, sustained multiple injuries in the accident, which happened in Liverpool Road West, Church Lawton.

The young man was driving a red Ford Fiesta towards Alsager when his E-registration 1100cc car was in collision with a 43-seater single decker bus.

The coach was owned by a company from the Stoke-on-Trent area, and was travelling in the opposite direction towards Kidsgrove.

The accident happened at 12.30am on Friday where the road goes over the Trent and Mersey Canal, near the Lawton Manor home for the elderly.

The wrecked Fiesta ended up on its roof, and firefighters had to cut away part of the body work to free the driver.

The bus driver and the single passenger on board were uninjured but shocked.

Mr Bales was taken by ambulance to Leighton Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

The road remained closed while vehicle accident investigators checked the crash scene.

Anyone who saw the accident is asked to contact the police by ringing the traffic unit at Northwich Police Station on 01606-48000.