A LORRY driver from Stowmarket is recovering in hospital after being injured in a six-vehicle crash in Derbyshire.

Colin Adwent

A LORRY driver from Stowmarket is recovering in hospital after being injured in a six-vehicle crash in Derbyshire.

Nicholas Raynham, 43, who works for Ipswich haulier Green and Skinner, was airlifted to the Royal Derby Hospital following the crash on the A38 in Barton under Needwood at 12.15pm on Thursday.

It is believed he sustained as many as five broken ribs as a result of the crash, which left one woman critically injured, and remained at the hospital at the weekend.

Mr Raynham is not believed to have sustained life-threatening injuries and was said to be recovering.

A witness to the crash told of his disbelief at seeing a Land Rover facing oncoming traffic just minutes before the crash.

Simon Heath, who works near the A38 Barton sliproad in Derbyshire, said the vehicle was parked in the slow lane of the A38 on northbound carriageway.

Mr Heath said that traffic had to slow down to avoid the Land Rover Discovery which had half parked.

Although he did not witness the smash, he saw the stationary vehicle just five minutes earlier.

He said: “I was taking someone to Burton's Queen's Hospital and it was clear on the way there but on the way back down we saw a Land Rover Discovery parked up on the carriageway facing the wrong direction in oncoming traffic. Someone looked like they were loading twigs and branches into its trailer.

“We couldn't believe what it was doing facing that direction. Traffic was starting to get heavy as it was struggling to get round the Land Rover.

“It was half parked on the slow lane and half parked on the verge but traffic still had to move into the other lane to get past.

“I believe it is quite possible that the accident could have occurred because of that Land Rover.”

His workmate, Alan Forster, said: “Without a shadow of a doubt, if that Land Rover hadn't been there causing an obstruction and traffic hadn't had to slow down to merge onto the next lane, then that accident would never have happened.”

A Staffordshire Police spokesman said the Land Rover was being included in investigations into the crash, but the vehicle had been involved in an earlier crash half a mile away. It was, at this point, being connected to the serious collision at 12.15pm.

A 51-year-old woman from Tamworth, who was a passenger in one of the cars, was left in a critical condition following the accident. She was airlifted to the University Hospital of Coventry and Warwickshire, with a serious head injury and suspected internal injuries.

The driver of another car, a 53-year-old man from Tamworth, was treated at the scene for a head injury before being taken to hospital.

A 45-year-old man from Shropshire was taken to hospital with minor injuries.

The northbound carriageway of the road was closed for five hours.