Lorry driver's amazing escape after Dalton crash

Sep 8 2008 by Joanne Douglas, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Pc Dave Briggs from Kirklees Road Traffic Police said: “The driver lost control of the vehicle, we don’t know how yet, but he ended up maybe 20 to 30ft down a steep embankment.

“The vehicle crashed through a wall and came to rest up against a tree which it had crashed into; if it hadn’t he might have ended a further 100 yards down in the river at the bottom. But the vehicle was crushed in a way the driver couldn’t get out and he was trapped in there for about an hour before he could be rescued.”

The smash happened on the s-bend along the Huddersfield bound stretch of Dalton Bank Road.

Signs show a weight limit of 7.5 tonnes while the narrow road is 60mph except for that particular bend, where warning signs advise drivers to slow to 20mph.

Huddersfield firefighter Alan Haque said: “We had to make the vehicle safe, it had crashed up against a tree but we managed to secure it.

“We were able to extricate the driver with the help of the paramedics. He was taken to hospital with abdominal injuries.

“A long stretch of the road was closed off for a couple of hours while we worked to make it safe.”