A LORRY driver had a lucky escape after his vehicle and a tractor apparently collided and the lorry ploughed into a hedge.

The picture, right, taken by Evening Press reader Val Stancer, reveals the aftermath of the smash.

The accident, which happened next to a farm in Ganthorpe, near Terrington, yesterday afternoon, left the driver with a suspected broken leg.

He was airlifted by North Yorkshire Air Ambulance to the Friarage Hospital, in Northallerton, after firefighters used hydraulic cutting equipment to free him from the cab.

Debris was scattered across Bulmer Road and one of the lorry's doors was wrenched off, landing in the middle of the road. Ms Stancer, whose partner owns Manor Farm, near where the crash occurred, said she had heard the noise of the helicopter's blades and gone to investigate when she captured the accident's aftermath.

"The driver didn't look that badly hurt. The tractor driver appeared to be just shocked," she said.

"There was a lot of mud on the road, with the heavy rainfall. The lorry nearly went into a garden where a neighbour was sitting. The door of the lorry had been wrenched off with the impact."

Updated: 11:52 Tuesday, November 05, 2002