A CYCLIST has died after suffering serious head injuries in a road accident in York.

The accident happened at 2.20pm yesterday on Holgate Road bridge - known locally as the Iron Bridge.

Police said the victim was a local man in his early 20s who was cycling in the direction of Blossom Street when he collided with a red Citroen C3 travelling in the opposite direction. It is not yet known how the accident happened.

Officers have said the man died at 5pm in York Hospital despite being treated in the road by paramedics before being taken to hospital. The ambulance service said he received head injuries and a witness to the accident told police that the cyclist was bleeding from his ear and nose as well as having a head wound.

The police have released no details about the driver of the car other than to say they were local and have not been arrested.

Following the accident, police officers closed Holgate Road at its junction with Blossom Street and Dalton Terrace, which leads on to Holgate Road, while the crash scene was examined. This left drivers with the choice of driving along Tadcaster Road and then through Dringhouses or turning around and going via Leeman Road.

The closure caused considerable problems for commuters as Holgate Road carries around 20,000 vehicles per day.

Motorists coming from the direction of the Poppleton Road area were diverted down Hamilton Drive East - which is a few hundred yards on from The Fox pub - and then into Holgate and through into Acomb.

Traffic in both Thanet Road and St Helen's Road was moving at a crawl as drivers tried to get back on to Tadcaster Road.

All the roads were re-opened at about 5.20pm.

Witnesses to the collision have been asked to phone Traffic Constable Danielle Hyde at the Central Area Road Policing Group on 0845 6060247.