A MOTORCYCLIST has been left fighting for his life and a woman has been left seriously injured following a horror crash on a major East Lancashire road.

The crash involving a Honda motorbike and Nissan Micra on the A59 near Clitheroe happened shortly before 1pm yesterday causing major tailbacks.

The 71-year-old rider of the motorbike, who is from Bolton, was airlifted to Royal Preston Hospital in a critical condition with what police described as significant injuries. The 71-year-old female pillion passenger on the motorbike, who is also from Bolton, was airlifted to Royal Preston Hospital in a serious condition.

The driver of the Nissan Micra, a 92 year old woman, is assisting officers with their ongoing enquiries, a police spokesman said.

Specially trained road policing family liaison officers are assisting the relatives of those involved in the crash.

Police have issued a witness appeal and have urged anyone who saw anything to come forward.

Sergeant Adam Dawson, from the Road Policing Unit, said: “An investigation to establish how this collision came to occur is underway and if anyone has any information about what happened I would urge them to contact us.”

Police closed the road for more than three hours from the junctions of Whalley Road to Pimlico Link Road as the emergency services treated the injured and carried out investigation work.

Two air ambulances, two road ambulances, two fire engines and a rapid response paramedic attended the incident.

Police said the motorcycle rider was airlifted to the Royal Preston Hospital with significant injuries. Last night his condition was described as ‘critical’.

A pillion passenger on the motorcycle also suffered injuries as did two people travelling in the Micra.

The incident comes just over a month after another motorcyclist was injured on the same section of road.

The ambulance service said a 50-year-old man was taken to Royal Preston by air ambulance with head and hip injuries.

A woman was also taken to the hospital by air ambulance while a 72-year-old man was taken to the same hospital by land ambulance.

A second woman, described as ‘elderly’, was also airlifted to Royal Blackburn Hospital.

Ribble Valley MP Nigel Evans said the A59 was a ‘notorious accident blackspot’ and something urgently needed to be done to make the road safer.

He said: “This is a notorious road that accidents are regularly happening on and it is destroying families.

“The police need to work with the local authorities and urgently have a proper look at these blackspots.

“People just have to go for it when they come out of these junctions on the A59.

“Let’s just cross our fingers no-one has died or suffered from life changing injuries.”

The road was closed in both directions and Pendle Road was also closed at the junction with the A59 from Clitheroe and Sabden.

There was a huge backlog of traffic in and around Clitheroe for several hours which caused issues for travelling Burnley fans on their way to Preston North End last night for the Championship clash at Deepdale.

County Councillor Ian Brown, who represents Clitheroe, said: “First and foremost I would like to say my thoughts are with those who have been injured.

“The traffic was gridlock around Clitheroe for a few hours.

“However, this incident has not come as a surprise to me because the road is so dangerous.

“It has been a concern for a long time. They were supposed to be installing a roundabout in that area at some point but that seems to have been put on hold.

“The longer it takes, the more expensive it will be.”

Cllr Terry Hill, deputy leader of Ribble Valley Council, said he hopes the incident will put pressure on the county council to install roundabouts.

He said: “I am deeply saddened and I have great sympathy for the people who are involved.

“When the roundabout does get installed at the Pendle Road junction that will make a huge difference to the safety of the road.

“But I also think a roundabout is needed at the Pimlico Link Road junction because that’s where all the heavy goods vehicles come out.

“It’s ridiculous to expect them to be turning straight onto the A59, which is a fast and very wide road.

“It is a very dangerous road and the sooner that we get the roundabout the better.

“Hopefully this will apply pressure to have one at the Pimlico junction as well as the Pendle Road junction.”

A police spokesman said: “We were called shortly before 1pm to the Clitheroe stretch of the A59 close to Pendle Road to reports of a collision involving a Nisan Micra and a Honda motorcycle.

“The motorcycle rider was airlifted to Royal Preston Hospital where he remains in a critical condition with significant injuries.

“The passenger of the motorcycle was also injured.”

Anyone with information is asked to call police on 101, quoting log reference 577 of the 22 April.