Mystery surrounds collision which killed driver
Mar 12 2009 The Journal
POLICE are investigating a mystery accident in which a van driver was killed after crashing into a bridge.
The man was airlifted from the scene of the crash, near Scots Gap in Northumberland, to Newcastle General Hospital with serious injuries after the accident which happened shortly before 11.30am yesterday.
He had been travelling on an unclassified road leading to the B6343, which runs from Morpeth to Scots Gap, when he inexplicably swerved and smashed in to the stonework of a disused railway bridge.
The impact caused huge front end damage and the driver’s compartment of the transit van was mangled.
Fire crews used hydraulic cutting equipment to free the trapped driver from the cab and paramedics treated the man.
No one else is thought to have been using the road at the time and driving conditions were good. The road, which runs towards Middleton, was sealed off by police and two ambulances carried paramedics to the scene.
Sgt Phil King, of Northumbria police motor patrols, said: “It is a one vehicle accident. The driver of the vehicle has been driving northbound towards the old disused bridge.
“For reasons yet to be established the vehicle has swerved to the offside of the oncoming lane, mounted the offside verge and collided directly with the bridge parapet.”
A local farmer, who did not wish to be named, said: “I went out when I saw the helicopter and went to see if there was anything I could do. The van had hit the bridge with its front end and looked pretty well damaged. The driver was unconscious and lying on the side. The helicopter landed and the paramedics were busy.”
Fire crews from Morpeth and Rothbury attended and were at the scene for around two hours. Police said the man’s condition had deteriorated as he was flown from the crash scene to hospital by the Air Ambulance. He was pronounced dead on arrival at hospital.
