A TEENAGER died after the car he was travelling in hit a lamppost in a week of tragedy on the region's roads.

Lee Taylor, 19, from Conyers Avenue, Chester-le-Street, was a front seat passenger in a car which was involved in the accident on the A195 at Northumberland Way and Inkerman Road roundabout.

The driver, a 21-year-old from the Washington area, received minor injuries following the accident on Monday.

He was taken to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Gateshead, where he was treated for bruising and shock.

Meanwhile, a 19-year-old, from Yarm, remained critically ill in the James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough, last night, following a separate collision.

Cleveland Police said his blue Renault Clio left the A67 road and crashed in fields near Teesside Airport.

The unnamed teenager has a fractured spine, thigh and arm and head injuries following the accident last Friday.

The accidents happened as the family of a teenager who died when his car crashed through a wall while being pursued by police prepared for his funeral.

Brian Lynch, 18, of Easington Colliery, died at the scene when his car left the B1284 North Road in Hetton-le-Hole on August 24.

A funeral service is to be held tomorrow, at 10.30am, at The Church of Ascension, in Easington Colliery, before his interment at the village cemetery.

Mr Lynch was the eldest of four children and lived with his parents, Brian and Marie, his teenage sister Amy, teenage brother John and youngest sister Donna, in North Crescent, in Easington Colliery.