A 90-year-old driver has been killed and a mother and her two young sons injured in a head-on collision this morning (Monday, January 5).

The main A168 road between Northallerton and Thirsk was closed for nearly five hours following the 9.35am smash - the second death on the same road in the past month.

It happened half a mile north of Thornton le Street after the pensioner, who was driving a Peugeot 306, overtook a hay lorry.

Police said the Peugeot and an oncoming Vauxhall Minerva collided. The Vauxhall driver, a 29-year-old mother-of-two, who together with her six-year-old son, was airlifted by the Great North Air Ambulance to the James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough.

Her other eight-year-old son was taken to hospital by road ambulance. The driver suffered a suspected broken breastbone while her sons suffered minor cuts and bruises. All were detained in hospital overnight for observation.

The 90-year-old Peugeot driver, who was pronounced dead at the scene, has not yet been named by police but is from the Ampleforth area.

An investigation into the collision has been launched by the police and appeals have been made for witnesses.

Traffic Sergeant Clare Sawyer, of Thirsk Roads Policing Group, said: “I would like to thank the people who have already come forward with information, however if you witnessed the collision and haven’t yet spoken to the police, please get in touch as soon as possible.”

Anyone able to help is urged to call North Yorkshire Police on 101, select option 2, and ask for Traffic Sergeant Clare Sawyer or Thirsk Roads Policing Group.

Within hours of the crash a slurry tank overturned on a separate part of the A168 between Thirsk and Dishforth, near the Sharow roundabout.

The tank, being pulled by a tractor, partially blocked the road for two hours from 12.10pm as vehicles were brought in to right it. The tractor driver was treated for shock.

On Sunday December 7 a man in his 60’s was killed on the Dishforth to Thirsk stretch of the road when his Mercedes Benz car crashed into the rear of a HGV parked in a lay-by. The crash happened near the Asenby turnoff in the north bound carriageway. The driver of the HGV was not injured.