Police are appealing for witnesses to a head-on collision which left one driver critically injured.

The accident involved a truck and a van heading in opposite directions on the A177 in Coxhoe, County Durham.

Police said the Renault tipper truck was heading west between Cornforth Lane and Station Road, when it crashed with the Ford Transit van.

The truck had left Coxhoe Quarry and turned right onto the main road shortly before the collision.

Both vehicles were extensively damaged, and the van driver, a 30-year-old man from Darlington, sustained serious upper body and chest injuries.

Having initially received treatment at James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough, he was transferred to Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital, where his condition was described as ‘critical but stable’ today (Wednesday January 30).

His passenger, a 29-year-old man also from Darlington, received minor injuries and was detained overnight in the University Hospital of North Durham, in Durham, as a precaution.

The truck driver, a 20-year-old man from Spennymoor, received minor arm and whiplash injuries for which he was treated and later discharged from the Durham hospital.

Police accident investigators have asking anyone who witnessed the crash, at 5.40pm on Tuesday (January 29), to get in touch.

They are asked to ring investigating officer, PC Ian Ross, via the Durham force’s 101 non-emergency number.