Three pedestrians taken to hospital with head injuries after Darlington crash

The incident happened in Parkgate, near the Black Swan pub just after 10pm.

• Police deal with major late-night incident in Darlington town centre

A red Kia Rio was travelling towards the junction with the A167 when it struck three women near the junction with Hargreave Terrace.

The North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) confirmed it took three patients to hospital after attending the incident.

Two women were taken to James Cook University Hospital, in Middlebrough in a critical condition.

The other woman was taken to Darlington Memorial Hospital and was described by a police spokeswoman as being in a "stable" condition. 

She added that the driver of the car, a man in his 70s, was not injured.

There were no other passengers in the car.

Parkgate, in Darlington, had reopened this morning 

The road was closed until just before 2am to allow collision investigators to work at the scene. 

A spokesman for NEAS said: "We received several calls from people in the area to reports of a road traffic collision involving three pedestrians in Parkgate around 10pm last night,

"We dispatched a doctor and three paramedic ambulances and treated all three patients for head injuries before taking them to hospital.

"We took one patient to Darlington Memorial Hospital and two to James Cook." 

A spokeswoman for Durham Police said: "The collision happened outside the Black Swan on Parkgate and involved a red Kia Rio.

"The vehicle was travelling towards the junction with the A167 when it struck three women near the junction with Hargreave Terrace.

"Two women were taken to James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough, in a critical condition, while the third was taken to Darlington Memorial Hospital. Her condition is described as stable.

"The driver of the car – a man in his seventies - was not injured, and there were no other passengers in the vehicle."

Anyone who witnessed the incident, or has any dashcam footage that could help the investigation, is asked to call police on 101, quoting incident number 457 of March 7.