Police investigating a serious crash at a County Durham crossroads have issued an update, as they confirm that a man is fighting for his life in hospital. 

Emergency services were called to the B6279 Kinninvie crossroads, between Barnard Castle and Staindrop, at around 8.40am on Thursday (May 30), following reports of a crash between a vehicle recovery truck and a Vauxhall Astra.

The driver of the Astra sustained life-threatening injuries and was taken to hospital by air ambulance.

The Northern Echo: A road closure sign at the scene

The driver of the recovery truck was uninjured.

This stretch of road has become an incident blackspot over the years, with numerous serious crashes and several fatal crashes. 

Improvement work on the crossroad was made at the start of this year - which included replacing ‘give-way’ signs with ‘stop’ signs, new road markings, applying a high friction road surface, and a new vehicle-activated warning sign with flashlights which warn northbound drivers they are approaching a ‘stop’ line.

The North East Ambulance Service confirmed that a person had been airlifted to hospital - but the condition of the person airlifted isn't known at this time.

The Northern Echo: Emergency services were called to the B6279 Kinninvie crossroads, between Eggleston and Staindrop,

A North East Ambulance Service spokesperson said: "We were called to a road traffic collision this morning (30 May) at 8.42am on Billy Lane at Barnard Castle. We dispatched two ambulance crews, one clinical team leader and supported by our colleagues at Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS). One patient was taken to hospital by GNAAS."

A Great North Air Ambulance spokesperson added: "Our critical care team was activated at 8.59am to reports of a road traffic collision in Kinninvie.

"We had two doctors and a paramedic on board our aircraft and they arrived on the scene at 9.16am.

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"Our team worked alongside the North East Ambulance Service to assess and treat a patient and they airlifted them to hospital."

Police are appealing now for witnesses to the serious collision.

Officers from Durham Roads and Armed Policing Unit would like to speak to anyone who witnessed the collision, or who stopped to help those involved.

If you can help, please contact the Serious Collision Investigation Unit on 101 quoting incident number 82 of May 30, or email sciu@durham.police.uk