A TYRE fitter has been seriously injured in a collision with a lorry while changing a punctured tyre on a notorious stretch of road.

The incident, which also left the driver of one of the lorries in a critical condition, happened on the A66 at Bowes, near Barnard Castle, County Durham, shortly after 4am yesterday.

Neil Harrison, an employee at Bridgegate Tyres, Barnard Castle, was changing a lorry tyre when he was hit by another HGV.

Both he and the driver of the second lorry were taken to Darlington Memorial Hospital.

Mr Harrison, 39, who lives in Bridgegate, suffered serious back injuries. The lorry driver, who had to be freed from his vehicle, suffered serious leg injuries and has undergone emergency surgery.

Staff at Bridgegate Tyres said Mr Harrison is a popular employee and they were shocked when they heard news of the accident.

Mr Harrison, a foreman fitter, has been with the company for nearly 25 years.

The firm's director, Alan Bowman, said: "He's a very experienced and valuable member of the company.

"We're very worried. We've heard he's due to go in for a scan this afternoon and we're just keeping our fingers crossed.

"We don't know an awful lot of what's happened.

"He was on call and was called out early this morning to fix the tyre.

"I went to the site and it looks as though one wagon has crashed into the other, but I wouldn't like to speculate on what caused it."

Mr Harrison is unmarried with a young daughter, who is believed to be with him at the hospital.

Two fire crews from Barnard Castle attended the incident and helped to cut the lorry driver free.

Sub-officer Derek Miller said: "The man who was fixing the tyre was in the ambulance when we arrived.

"The driver of the HGV which had the puncture was a man from Ireland. Fortunately, he wasn't in the cab at the time. He was outside talking on his mobile phone, so he was quite lucky.

"The other driver was trapped quite badly and it took us a good 50 minutes to cut him free."

Although the accident blocked only one side of the road, both carriageways were closed to allow heavy removal vehicles to separate the two lorries and lift them from the scene.

The road was closed for nearly eight hours, until after- noon, and diversions were put in place through Bowes village for westbound traffic, and through Barnard Castle and Startforth for eastbound traffic.