A CYCLIST was taken to hospital with suspected head injuries after he was knocked off his bike in a collision with an NHS ambulance.

Police and ambulance crews were called to the scene in the North Road area of Darlington, at 2.54pm yesterday.

The cyclist, a man in his 40s, was involved in a collision with a Patient Transport Services (PTS) ambulance, which is normally used to transport elderly people to hospital.

The accident happened at a pedestrian crossing at the junction of High Northgate and John Street.

Van driver Wayne Porter, 37, from Durham City, said: “I was waiting at the traffic lights because it was on red and the cyclist must have come round the back of my van.

“The next thing I heard was a bang and a man was lying wedged between my van and the ambulance next to me, in a crumpled mess on the floor.”

Paul Armstrong, 49, from Middleton St George, was driving the car behind Mr Porter’s van.

He said: “I saw the cyclist come in front of my car. He was cycling across the road wearing a cap and his hood up and didn’t see the ambulance coming. It hit him sideways.

Blood was running down his head and from his mouth.”

A spokeswoman from the North-East Ambulance Trust said: “The driver of the vehicle said he was in travelling in the right-hand lane, about to turn right into John Street when he saw the cyclist come out of nowhere.

“The cyclist hit his wing mirror and it came off. It is designed to come off quite easily, even with the slightest bump.

“The driver was driving slowly because he was turning, so he would not have been travelling more than 20mph.”

An anonymous witness said: “When I got here, I saw four lads pulling the guy from under the ambulance.”

The cyclist’s injuries were not thought to be life-threatening.

Road traffic delays were seen on North Road and the surrounding artery roads for an hour after the incident.