A PEDESTRIAN was taken to hospital with head injuries after he was hit by a car at a zebra crossing.

It is understood the elderly man was going to buy a newspaper when the collision occurred at 6.50am on Thursday on Park Road in South Moor, near Stanley.

Eyewitnesses who were on their way to work rushed into the Spar store nearby to help the man before paramedics arrived.

Assistant manager Cath McGuire said: “A young girl came to the door and asked for dressings so I gave her the first aid box.

“It was a young girl who was waiting at the bus stop. She comes into the shop sometimes.

“The man who was injured is a regular customer of ours. He is a lovely man. I cannot stop thinking about him.

“He always come in for his paper and his lottery results.

“I have been very worried about him.”

Emergency services attended and police closed the road for around three hours.

A spokeswoman for North East Ambulance Service said the man has been taken to hospital with head injuries.

The spokeswoman said: “We dispatched a double crewed ambulance and a patient was taken to the RVI in Newcastle with head injuries.”

A spokeswoman for Durham Constabulary said: “We were called at about 6.50am to reports of a collision between a car and a pedestrian on Park Road, in South Moor, near Stanley.

“A male pedestrian is believed to have been injured but the extent of which are unknown.

“The road was closed for about three hours but has since reopened and the vehicle has been recovered from the scene.”

The man lives further up Park Road and is well thought of by those who know him.

His neighbour said: “He is lovely. He walks with a walking stick, or he did the last I saw him.

“He has been poorly for a while but was on the mend, then this happens on a zebra crossing. The road was cordoned off in a square across the road. There was lot of emergency services there.

“It is shocking.”