STRIKING firefighters left their picket line yesterday to save three people after a car crash.

Five officers among strikers at Leadgate, near Consett, County Durham, attended a head-on collision on the A693 Consett bypass, between Villa Real and Delves Lane, at 10.50am.

Firefighter Colin Wheatley said: "The police said this was a serious accident and asked if we could come and give assistance.

"We crossed our picket lines and went out.

"In serious incidents, we will always be prepared to respond.

"We did what we could and helped the paramedics get an elderly man out and on to a spinal board, then returned to our picket lines."

The Air Ambulance was called to fly a 59-year-old woman from Leadgate to the University Hospital of North Durham, with suspected chest and back injuries. A 62-year-old man, also from Leadgate, who was in the same car, was taken by ambulance to hospital with back, neck and head injuries.

The driver of the second car, a 70-year-old man from Stanley, was taken to hospital with suspected head and back injuries. His passenger, also in his 70s, suffered a broken leg and facial injuries, including a possible broken jaw.

Three paramedic units attended the incident.

A Government spokesman said: "A Green Goddess was called to the incident, but the striking firemen came off the picket line and got there first and dealt with it."

Elsewhere in the North-East, the Army had a quiet day.

In east Durham, a Green Goddess crew took over from firefighters to carry out the damping-down process at Davison's Waste Paper, Shotton Colliery.

More than 200 tonnes of paper caught fire at the premises on Sunday night.

In Tyne and Wear, between 9am and 4pm yesterday, there were 11 calls resulting in six deployments.

The most serious incident was a worker in Cramlington, Northumberland, who was crushed when a loaded pallet fell on him. His condition last night was said not to be life-threatening.

In North Yorkshire, two Green Goddesses were called out to a three-vehicle accident on the A61 south of Ripon, at about 2pm.

RAF firefighters were called to the scene from their stations in Harrogate and Dishforth, and one man had to be airlifted by the Yorkshire Air Ambulance to a Leeds hospital with leg injuries.

Four other people involved in the accident were taken to Harrogate District Hospital suffering from minor injuries.

Meanwhile, Army firefighters used a traditional red engine for car fire in Whinney Banks, Middlesbrough, which they believe was started deliberately.

The fire was out by the time the relief firefighters arrived on the scene, in Central Avenue, at 1.45pm, but the car was badly damaged.