Man in serious condition after last night's horror A19 smash

Police were called to reports of a one vehicle collision on the A19 soutbound, between the A690 and the B1404 at around 8.45pm last night.

A Nissan Almera collided with the central reservation and flipped over.

Three men were in the car at the time, two of which left the scene of the collision before being located close by shortly after.

A 32-year-old man was subsequently taken to Sunderland Royal Hospital before being transferred to Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary with serious but not life-threatening injuries.

A 20-year-old man was also taken to Sunderland Royal Hospital but his injuries are not believed to be serious.

A third man, aged 24, was not believed to be injured.

The road reopened in the early hours of this morning.

Diversions were in place and drivers had been asked to follow the solid black diamond symbol for the A690 and B1404.

One eyewitness who drove past the scene minutes after the accident described seeing a car on its roof.

"There is debris all across the road," he said.

"The cars are just trickling past to get through the debris, but they will have to shut the road to clear it."

A North East Ambulance Service spokeswoman said at the time that one person had been taken to hospital and two more were being assessed: "We received a call at 20.40 to a report of a one-vehicle road traffic collision.

"We have sent four vehicles from our hazardous area response team and two ambulances so far.

"There are a total of three potential patients. We are still at the scene.

"One patient has already been pre-alerted through to Sunderland Royal Hospital with serious head and pelvic injuries."

A Durham Constabulary spokeswoman confirmed a large number of officers were on the scene and the road was expected to remain closed for some time.

The investigation into the cause is being managed by Durham Constabulary and any information should be directed to them quoting log 460 of 200318.