Police are appealing after a serious collision in County Durham left a driver needing to be airlifted to hospital with injuries.

Emergency services were called to the A690 at the junction with Pittington Lane on Saturday (July 2) at around 5.25pm, following reports of a two-vehicle collision involving a Seat Leon and Volvo V70.

One of the drivers was flown by air ambulance to the Royal Victoria Infirmary, in Newcastle, with serious injuries.

Officers would like to speak to anyone who witnessed the collision, or anyone who may have dashcam footage of the vehicles prior to the incident.

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A spokesperson for Durham Police said: “Police were called at 5.25pm on Saturday (July 2) to a two-vehicle collision involving a Seat Leon and Volvo V70 on the A690 at the junction with Pittington Lane.

“The driver of the Seat was flown by air ambulance to the Royal Victoria Infirmary, in Newcastle, with serious injuries.”

Anyone who can help is asked to call Durham Constabulary on 101, quoting incident number 312 of July 2.

The current condition of the motorist is unknown – with the North East Ambulance Service saying: “We’re unable to provide condition checks for patients – once we hand them over to a hospital our involvement ends.”

However, they did say at the time of the collision: “We were called to reports of a road traffic collision on the junction of the A690 Pittington Road at 17:22 this evening.

"We dispatched two ambulance crews, one crew from our Hazardous Area Response Team and a clinical team leader and requested support from Great North Air Ambulance Service.

"One patient was taken by road to Sunderland Royal Hospital and a second patient was flown to the RVI."

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