Driver seriously injured after M54 smash with lorry

A driver suffered serious injuries today after his car was hit by a lorry on the M54 near Telford in a crash which left the road closed for more than three hours.

The accident closed the carriageway in both directions and caused long tailbacks along the A449 and A41.

Police closed the eastbound carriageway immediately following the accident at 9.45am and the westbound lane was closed shortly afterwards to allow the air ambulance to land to take the driver of the red Honda car to the major trauma centre at Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

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Chris Kowalik, West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman, said: "The car driver, a man in his 50s, had a head injury, a broken right arm and a collapsed lung.

"There was no injury to the lorry driver."

A spokeswoman for the Central Motorway Police Group said police were looking into the cause of the accident.

Fire crews from Albrighton, Wellington, Telford and Staffordshire were called to the site of the accident, which was close to junction 2 of the motorway, to help ambulance crews get the car driver out of his vehicle and make the vehicles safe.