A TAXI driver has died and five people, including four teenagers, were seriously injured after a horrific head-on smash on the Daresbury Expressway on Monday night.

Emergency services raced to the scene after the 41-year-old cabbie's black Citroen Xsara Picasso was in collision with a silver Peugeot 306 carrying four teenagers shortly after 9.30pm.

"It was a head-on collision at speed," said Colin James, watch manager at Stockton Heath fire station, called to the crash along with two appliances from Runcorn.

"It was one of the worst... it was bad."

The taxi driver, who police have not yet named, was pronounced dead at the scene.

The World understands he had a wife and stepdaughter and worked for Runcorn firm Grosvenor Taxis.

His backseat passenger, a 48-year-old man from Warrington, suffered serious but not life-threatening injuries and was rushed to hospital.

The 18-year-old driver of the Peugeot is in a critical but stable condition in intensive care.

His passengers: an 18-year-old girl, a 14-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy all suffered serious injuries and remain in 'poorly but stable' conditions in Warrington and Whiston hospitals.

All are from Halewood in Merseyside and were heading along the A558 towards Runcorn when the head-on collision occurred 350 metres east of the junction with Pitts Heath Lane.

Sandymoor resident Paul Walker rushed outside after hearing the emergency services' sirens and seeing the lights.

"The Citroen had gone into the side railings and had the whole of its side taken off," he said.

"The scene was a real mess. Police sealed off the road and it took until well past 1am for them to clear it up."

Traffic sergeant Yvonne Williams said they were still investigating how fast both vehicles were going and what caused the crash, which happened in wet but not rainy conditions on a relatively flat, straight stretch of single-carriageway road.

"We have had accidents along there before but you get them everywhere," she said.

"We're appealing for witnesses, in particular other motorists, to come forward."

Anyone with information should call the traffic special investigations unit on 01244-613 928.