ACCIDENT investigators are renewing their appeal for witnesses to a motorway crash last week which left a driver fighting for his life.

The unnamed driver was behind the wheel of a white van travelling north on the A1(M) in the early hours of Tuesday last week.

The vehicle crashed into the back of a Volvo articulated lorry belonging to Newcastle Breweries south of the Burtree interchange, north of Darlington. The collision happened at 3.40am.

The 31-year-old driver of the van, from the Manchester area, suffered multiple injuries and was taken to Darlington Memorial Hospital before being transferred to Middlesbrough General.

His condition has remained critical and so far he has not regained consciousness. The lorry driver, a 50-year-old man from Stanley, was uninjured but shocked.

The van driver was on its way to Gateshead to deliver computer equipment, having set off from the Trafford area of Manchester.

It is believed he had already made one drop off at Rugby and was heading north to Gateshead.

Police have been stopping wagons in the past few days and speaking to lorry drivers who regularly use the A1M in the hope someone may have witnessed the accident. So far, inquiries have drawn a blank.

Anyone with any information is asked to contact them on 0191-386 4929.