A MAN has been airlifted to hospital with serious life threatening injuries after the scooter he was riding suffered a puncture and crashed on a busy Hampshire road.

Ambulance crews and Basics doctors stabilised the man, who was in his fifties, following the crash on the A27 near Portsbridge, near the Cosham area of Portsmouth.

Hampshire Air Ambulance then airlifted him to Southampton where a waiting ambulance took him to Southampton General Hospital for treatment to serious head injuries.

A woman pillion passenger on the Vespa scooter was taken to Queen Alexandra Hospital, Cosham, with injuries which are not life threatening.

Police closed all lanes of the A27 for a few minutes from 2.30pm to allow the air ambulance to land and take off.

The accident closed a lane on the eastbound stretch of the A27 causing huge tailbacks along the route.

A spokeswoman said: "Officers from the Cosham Roads Policing Unit would like to thank drivers for their patience while they dealt with this life-threatening incident."