Crash shuts part of major route

Part of the Black Country Route was closed off, causing rush-hour chaos, after a lorry and Transit van collided.

Drivers travelling towards junction 10 of the M6 were forced to leave the route last night, causing long tailbacks.

The HGV lorry carrying steel girders is believed to have hit the back of the van at 6.20pm between the Keyway and Anston Junction stretch of the A454. Motorists were redirected onto Wellman’s Road, towards Bilston Lane and Wolverhampton Road, to get to the motorway.

Firefighters, police and paramedics were called to the scene, with the Wolverhampton to Walsall carriageway reopened by 8.30pm.

The two drivers escaped serious injury along with a passenger in the van, and all were taken to hospital. Fire crews helped the HGV driver, believed to be in his thirties, from his cab with what were thought to be spinal injuries. Traffic travelling towards Wolverhampton was unaffected.

Meanwhile, a man was airlifted to hospital by police helicopter after suffering serious injuries in a road crash in Stafford. The man, thought to be in his early twenties, suffered serious neck injuries when he was thrown out of his Ford Fiesta when it hit a tree in Burton Manor Road near Junction 13 of the M6, just after 10.15pm last night.

Earlier, there were problems in Stafford town centre when the A34, one of the main routes into the town, was closed off for almost an hour after a cable came off a lorry and two cars were involved in a smash in Gaol Square at lunchtime.