A TWENTY-year-old motorcyclist died yesterday following a collision on one of Bournemouth's busiest roads.

The accident sparked hours of traffic chaos.

The collision between a black Honda Accord and a blue Yamaha motorcycle happened on Castle lane West at the junction of Belmont Lane between East Way and Charminster Road at 1.52pm.

The male motorcyclist was taken to Royal Bournemouth Hospital under police escort with serious head injuries, but later police confirmed he had died.

His identity has not been released but he is understood to be local.

Police closed the road between Broadway Lane and East Way near Bournemouth School for Girls and diversions were put in place, causing long traffic delays in the area.

Castle Lane remained closed for more than two hours over the afternoon.

The driver of the Honda, a 63-year-old local man, was taken to Poole General Hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

A total of three ambulances, police and firefighters attended the scene.

Andrew Young, 32, a bank worker from Bournemouth, who was on the scene shortly after the incident, said: "The motorbike was on its side in the middle of the road and fragments of it were all over the place.

"The whole road was closed off and police were swarming all over it doing whatever they do. I saw an ambulance going off and apparently it was the driver of the car."

Throop resident Graham Thomas described the traffic delays as "mayhem".

He said it took him 45 minutes to get from the Broadway public house to Charminster.

Police are appealing for witnesses to the incident to contact the principal investigating officer PC Darren Beel at Ferndown Road Policing Unit on 01202 222 222.