HORRIFIED ambulance crews arrived at a road crash at the weekend to find one of their colleagues fatally injured and trapped in his car.

Mark Maughan, a 29-year-old ambulance technician from Churchill Road, Barnard Castle, County Durham, was killed as he drove to start an 8am shift at Newton Aycliffe ambulance station on Saturday.

A paramedic who arrived first on the scene, on the A688 in South Terrace, Staindrop, recognised Mr Maughan's uniform.

The rapid-response car was followed by three other paramedic ambulances, and a Great North Air Ambulance helicopter was called from Durham Tees Valley Airport.

Firefighters cut Mr Maughan from his red Vauxhall Vectra before colleagues drove him to Darlington Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Police said Mr Maughan had lost control of the car on a right-hand bend. The Vectra clipped a parked Peugot 206 and swerved to the opposite side of the road, rolling into the path of two other vehicles - a silver Mitsubishi Shogun and a red Ford Mondeo.

A woman in the back of the Shogun was air-lifted to Darlington with a suspected fractured leg.

Three injured men were driven to hospital - a 60-year-old, who was suffering from chest pains, and a 45-year-old and a 40-year-old with possible whiplash injuries.

South Terrace was closed from the time of the accident at 7.45am, and did not reopen until noon.

The ambulance Mr Maughan was due to man with a paramedic went out two hours late with a new crew.

Mr Maughan joined the ambulance service a year ago and was normally stationed at Bishop Auckland.

Colleagues have been offered counselling and support.

An ambulance spokesman said: "The first person there did not know Mark personally, but he saw his uniform and alerted ambulance control.

"It is upsetting whenever we turn up to the scene of an accident where someone has been killed, but when you know somebody there it is even more difficult.

"This is why we have set up a peer support group in order to ensure that the people who were working that day have the help they need."

Les Mathias, senior divisional officer for the Durham division, said: "Mark was a relatively new member of staff to the service, but in the short time he was here he had become a popular and well-liked colleague."

Police accident investigators have asked witnesses to call them on 0845 60 60 365.