Smash mayhem on Midlands roads

This was the scene when a lorry jack-knifed and skidded off a Black Country road, one of several accidents over the weekend.

The driver, who was heading to Warburtons in Wednesbury, suffered minor injuries in the accident in Hallens Drive, which was closed for five hours as the scene was cleared and investigations carried out.

The air ambulance and fire crews was scrambled to the scene at around 10.20am yesterday, after the driver became trapped in his cabin by trees on the roadside.

Firefighters helped the 45-year-old man out of the vehicle and he was taken to Sandwell Hospital.

John Hawker, a spokesman for the West Midlands Ambulance Service, said the air ambulance was not needed in the end.

Mr Hawker said: "The driver, believed to be a man, suffered a minor head injury and was taken to Sandwell Hospital."

Brigg Ford, of West Midlands Police, said the road was closed until 3pm while emergency services cleared the scene.

Meanwhile, two women were injured when a lorry carrying horses overturned on the M42 after colliding with a car.

Part of the southbound carriageway in Solihull was closed yesterday morning when the lorry landed on its side. Emergency crews arrived at the scene at about 9.15am to find three horses and two dogs on the carriageway near junction 3a, Hockley Heath.

Ambulance officials said a woman in her 40s was taken to Alexandra Hospital in Redditch suffering back and neck "discomfort."

The driver of the car and a seven-year-old girl were unhurt.

The three horses and the two dogs escaped with relatively minor injuries and were dealt with at the scene by a veterinary surgeone. The motorway was closed for a period whilst the animals were rescued and the lorry was recovered.

Another man was cut free from the wreckage of his silver Audi after it lost control on a roundabout in Wolverhampton before landing on its side. Firefighters were called to Oxford Street Island in Bilston at around 8.45pm last night. They cut the roof off the car to free the driver, who was taken to New Cross Hospital with minor injuries.

And a pensioner was taken to hospital when his car left the road and struck a wall in Codsall. Police, paramedics and a fire crew were called to Heath House Lane in Codsall when the silver Peugeot hit a wall.

The man was taken to New Cross Hospital. A woman passenger of similar age was unhurt in the accident at 12pm on Saturday.