Crowds who gathered to see the Olympic flame cross into Yorkshire were given an extra surprise when one of the torchbearers proposed to his girlfriend.

David State stopped on the leg between Marske-by-the-Sea and Loftus and got down on one knee to ask his partner Christine Langham to marry him.

The 27 year old, who is heavily pregnant, said she had no clue what her boyfriend was planning: "It was shocking, surprising. I wondered what he was doing.

"It was just a complete shock. There were just so many people there. And he had the rest of that hill to run up, too."

David, who is a volunteer emergency ambulance technician with the British Red Cross, said he had been planning the stunt since March with the help of LOCOG organisers and only a few other people: "My parents knew, Christine's mum knew as well and one or two other people did, so there are a couple of shocked faces on the video."

The 25 year old from Redcar added: "I ran 300m with the Olympic flame, got down on one knee and proposed to my lovely girlfriend and then, about two seconds after, ran another 300m with the Olympic flame.

"So I left her in a spate of tears."

The couple have been together for almost two years after meeting at work and David said there are no plans for the big day just yet: "We haven't even had chance. It's just been amazing."