A MAN in his 50s has been airlifted to hospital after being left for dead when a van collided with the motorbike he was riding.

CCTV footage seen by The Guardian shows a Vauxhall Astra turning left out of a junction next to The Castle into High Road, Woodford Green, at around 2pm this afternoon.

It then hits a silver Honda motorbike, throwing both the driver and a passenger from the bike.

The van then appears to drive away.

Steve Moran, owner of Westside Motors, where the footage was filmed, said: “I heard a bang, looked out of my window and immediately phoned 999.

“The passenger was thrown off the bike and he looked in a bad way. It’s terrible.

“It doesn’t look like the driver of the van stopped.”

Other shopkeepers along High Road also expressed their shock at the accident.

Keith Barron, of Woodford Green Funeral Directors, said: “The man on the floor didn’t move for ages, but his legs moved in the end.

“I was going to take a blanket out, but passersby were already helping out. It was very shocking to watch.”

Mik Irfan, of Woodford Technology Solutions, said: “The guy who was driving the motorbike was standing up and seemed alright.

“I saw the other guy lying in the road and thought he was dead – there was loads of paramedics around him, pumping his chest.

“Then they brought out the stretcher and the helicopter took him away.”

Rashid Mukadam of laundrette shop Kings added: “I thought it must have been something serious otherwise there wouldn’t be a helicopter there and all the police cars."

The helicopter landed on Woodford Green cricket pitches and took the injured man to the Royal London Hospital.

A London Ambulance Service spokesman said the man who was airlifted to hospital was suffering with a shoulder injury and the other man involved was taken to hospital as a precaution.

The section of the High Road between Broadmead Road and Johnston Road was closed for around three hours while police investigated and the accident was cleared.

Redbridge police have been asked to comment.