A TEENAGE motorist died at the wheel of a car following a collision on Monday night.

Michael Alan Stones, 19, had been travelling from his home in Thornley, east Durham, on his way to pick up his elder brother, Lee, when the accident occurred.

He died at the scene on a stretch of the A181 at its junction with the unclassified road leading to Old Cassop.

A Durham Police spokesman said last night: "Mr Stones had been travelling west towards Durham in a Rover 25 when his vehicle crossed into the opposite carriageway colliding with a VW Passat travelling east."

The 46-year-old driver of the Passat, from Castle Eden, near Castle Eden, east Durham, suffered "non-serious injuries".

Police have asked for any witnesses to the accident to contact them on 0845-60-60-365.

Mr Stones, who also has a sister, Aimee, lived in St Cuthbert's Road, in the rural village of Thornley.

His devastated family revealed last night that he had been on his way to Birtley to pick up his brother from a martial arts class when the accident happened.

The news of Mr Stones' death has shocked the close-knit community of Thornley, where, a little over a year ago, 16-year-old Tracey Barnett died in a road traffic accident.

Tracey had been travelling as a passenger in a Peugeot 306 when it struck a wall at Sherburn Hospital, between Thornley and Durham. The driver, a 17-year-old friend, also from Thornley, had just passed his test.

He was sentenced to three years in a young offenders' institution and banned from driving for five years after admitting causing death by dangerous driving.

And several hours before the accident in which Mr Stones lost his life, Tracey's mother, Barbara, had lent her support to Durham Police's annual Wise Drive - Drive for Life at the force's headquarters in Durham City.

The initiative is aimed at warning those approaching the age when they can begin to legally learn to drive of the potential dangers they face when taking to the roads.

An inquest into Mr Stones' death will be opened today in Bishop Auckland.