ACCIDENT investigators are appealing for witnesses following an incident on the A1 motorway yesterday afternoon which left a teenage driver with serious injuries.

At about 2.20pm on Monday the 18-year-old was driving a blue Citroen Saxo on the northbound carriageway of the A1, around a mile north of junction 59 at Bradbury, County Durham.

For some reason the car veered to the nearside and travelled up a grass embankment, it then crashed through a wooden fence before coming to rest in a field of crops.

The driver, who is from York, suffered serious chest and internal injuries and was taken by the air ambulance to the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough.

His condition was initially classed as life threatening but has improved overnight; he is now classed as serious but stable.

The carriageway had to be closed for almost three hours while the vehicle was recovered from the scene and investigations were carried out.

Police are asking anyone who was on the motorway at that time and saw what happened to contact the accident investigation unit on 0191-3752159.