A CYCLIST was flown to hospital following a collision with a tractor at the junction of a dual carriageway in County Durham.

Officers were called to the collision at 7.20pm on Thursday night (August 10) on the A689 Hartlepool Road near Sedgefield, at the junction with Butterwick Road.

The 40-year-old cyclist suffered significant, but not life-threatening, injuries to his head and chest and was flown by air ambulance to James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough, where he arrived in a stable condition.

He remains in hospital while he recovers.

The driver of the tractor was uninjured and the road was closed in both directions until 9.40pm.

It is the second crash in the area of the junction involving cyclists in three weeks.

On Thursday, July 21, a cyclist was taken to hospital and another was left injured following a crash involving a black Ford Fiesta which was travelling west.

Durham Police at the time said three cyclists, one of which was not involved, had been travelling east when it happened at about 8pm.