By GEMMA BROWN

Last updated at 12:34, Wednesday, 20 April 2011

The A69 between Greenhead and Brampton was closed for more than seven hours after a crash at a notorious accident blackspot.

An HGV and a Ford Fiesta crashed on the stretch of road near the Low Row filling station, at 4.40pm on April 18, leaving the lorry driver with serious injuries.

The lorry overturned as it drove west along a downhill section of the road, colliding head on with the Ford Fiesta Zetec driven by a 42-year-old woman from Haltwhistle.

She escaped uninjured, but the driver of the lorry spent 90 minutes trapped in his cab.

He was cut free by fire crews from Carlisle and Brampton and airlifted by the Pride of Cumbria helicopter, from the Great North Air Ambulance Service, to the Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle.

A spokesman for Cumbria Police said his injuries were thought to be serious but not life threatening.

Officers from Cumbria sealed off the accident scene while collision investigators carried out their examinations and arrangements were made to remove the lorry.

Northumbria Police then assisted in diverting traffic through Haltwhistle until the road was re-opened around midnight.

First published at 09:08, Monday, 18 April 2011
Published by http://www.hexhamcourant.co.uk