AN ELDERLY motorist was injured when the car he was driving was in collision with a stationary police vehicle on the hard shoulder of a dual carriageway.

The 84-year-old driver of a Nissan Almera hit the patrol car between Throckley and Heddon-on-the-Wall, on the A69, west of Newcastle, late on Friday.

Two Northumbria force officers were in the vehicle with the driver of a lorry, which had caught fire nearby earlier.

The pensioner was taken to Newcastle General Hospital, initially in a serious condition, suffering pelvic injuries.

But a police spokesman said last night his condition appeared to have improved at over the weekend. The two police officers and the lorry driver suffered whiplash injuries