A 59-year-old woman cyclist was airlifted to hospital with a serious head injury after she was knocked off her bicycle by a black BMW 5 Series car in York yesterday evening.

The York woman was heading along Haxby Road towards Haleys Terrace on her dark-coloured bicycle with shopping baskets on front and back when the four-door saloon car, which was travelling in the same direction, collided with her. She was thrown onto its bonnet and hit its windscreen and roof.

The 23-year-old car driver from York was uninjured. She was initially taken to York Hospital, but was then airlifted by Yorkshire Air Ambulance to Leeds General Infirmary where her condition is described as "serious but stable".

Police are appealing to anyone who saw the collision, or the car or the bicycle before the crash to contact Julian Pearson of the York Roads Policing Group. Officers closed the road immediately after the collision at 8.10pm and diversions remained in place until 1.10am while police carried out detailed inspections of the scene.