A ride in a stolen car left a teenager and a man seriously injured when the vehicle crashed into a lamp-post.

The crash happened at about 11.20pm on Saturday on the B1285 Stockton Road, near its junction with the A1018, at Seaham Grange, near Seaham, County Durham.

Police said the Ford Orion Ghia had been stolen in Sunderland earlier that afternoon.

The driver lost control on a bend and the car mounted the kerb, crashed through a road sign then hit the lamp-post, said a spokesman.

Firefighters had to cut away a passenger door to free a 14-year-old boy trapped in the back of the vehicle. The youngster, from the Hendon area of Sunderland, was taken to Sunderland Royal Hospital.

He underwent emergency surgery and was last night in a critical condition.

Two men were in the front seats of the car, but police said yesterday they did not yet know which of them was driving.

One of the men, in his early 20s, sustained serious head injuries and was last night in Newcastle General Hospital, where his condition was described as critical.

The second man, aged 23, from the Sunderland area, suffered minor head and leg injuries and was detained for observation in Sunderland Royal Hospital.

Police appealed for anyone who saw the accident or saw the car in the hours beforehand, to call 0191-386 4929.