A man suffered serious injuries when his van collided with a lorry in Denby Dale.
The man, in his 40s, was trapped by his legs after the incident on Wakefield Road at 8.10am yesterday morning.
The crash sparked a major rescue operation by the emergency services and the Yorkshire Air Ambulance landed outside a parade of shops right in the heart of the village.
The injured man was taken to Leeds General Infirmary for serious but non-life threatening injuries.
Police are looking for witnesses and plan to talk to several schoolchildren, who were at a bus stop just yards from the crash scene.
A police spokesman said: “They will be spoken to as part of the investigation, and we’d urge anybody who witnessed it to get in touch with us via 101. Thankfully none of them were injured or involved”.
Watch Commander Richard Meakin, of Skelmanthorpe Fire Station, and his team were among the first at the scene.
Mr Meakin said: “We were called to the collision between an HGV and a van in Denby Dale.
“The driver of the van was trapped inside. The side of the van had pushed in and he was trapped by his legs.
“To extricate him we had to cut the door and part of the side of the van off to get him out.
“The driver of the lorry was out when we arrived.”
The fire crews were called at 8.10am and were at the scene for an hour and a half.
Firefighters from Huddersfield and Cleckheaton joined the Skelmanthorpe crews.
Police closed off the A636 Wakefield Road in both directions due to the serious accident, which happened between Norman Road and Cumberworth Lane.
Kirklees Rural police were advising drivers to avoid the area.
A spokesman for West Yorkshire Police said: “We were called at 8.07am to Wakefield Road, near to The Dales Inn pub.
“One man, aged in his 40s, received serious injuries but they are not believed to be life threatening.”
