A THIRD man has been questioned by police following a series of collisions that followed a car going the wrong way down the A19 in County Durham.

A 60-year-old woman is still critical in hospital today after yesterday’s accidents, but her condition has stabilised.

Two cars collided head-on when police say one headed north on the southbound carriageway at about 10.06am.

That was followed by a second crash on the northbound carriageway at 10.30am in which three cars collided.

The A19 was closed in both directions for several hours as a result.

Police said today that an elderly man had been interviewed in relation to dangerous driving following the first collision.

Two people had already been arrested in connection with the second crash.

A 43-year-old man from Houghton-le-Spring was held on suspicion of dangerous driving and a 30-year-old man from Huddersfield was arrested on suspicion of drug-driving. Both have been bailed.

There were two further accidents on the A19 this morning.

The first involved a Toyota Yaris and a Hyundai i20 which collided on the northbound carriageway just before the B1281 near Wheatley Hill at about 7.10am. Lane two was closed until 7.40am but those involved escaped serious injury.

A second accident happened just after 8am on northbound carriageway near Middlesbrough, between the A66 junction and Portrack Interchange, and again no-one was badly hurt.

The Highways Agency has been conducting a safety study examining the possibility of closing down junctions between the A179 turn off at Sheraton and the A689 Hartlepool turn off.

That study was due to be completed this month, but today the agency confirmed it will not be finished until August at the earliest.

Last month, Hartlepool coroner Malcolm Donnelly wrote to the agency and Hartlepool Borough Council urging them to consider closing the junction from the A19 into Dalton Back Lane where Scottish international rugby player Keri Holdsworth, 36, died last year.

“I feel compelled to alert the appropriate agencies to consider closure for vehicles turning right,” he said.

A Highways Agency spokeswoman confirmed its study includes the A179 Sheraton junction where Sunday’s crash happened, but more focus was being placed on the safety of the nearby Elwick and Dalton Piercy junctions. The possibility of closing the central reservations near those junctions is being examined.