Lorry driver still fighting for life

A LORRY driver from Ipswich is today still fighting for life after a day of carnage on Suffolk's roads.

The icy conditions and heavy fog combined to devastating effect yesterday, contributing to a spate of smashes on the county's roads.

The most serious accident took place on the A14 at the Suffolk and Cambridgeshire border at around 5.15am and left a lorry driver in his 20s battling life-threatening injuries.

Today police said the man, who worked for haulage company Green and Skinner, remained under close observation in intensive care at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge.

His conditions was described as being “stable but critical” after a series of emergency operations yesterday.

A section of the A14, near to the junction with the A11, was closed for nearly nine hours, causing tail-backs of up to six miles.

It took firefighters around an hour to cut him free from the cab of his Volvo lorry following the collision with another lorry.

Meanwhile, a motorcyclist suffered a fractured leg in an accident on the A14 near Levington, between Ipswich and Felixstowe at around 8.30am.

The road was closed for four hours while debris was removed from the road and accident investigations were completed.

Originally police feared his injuries could be life threatening, but later they said he was out of danger although he had suffered multiple fractures which were being treated in Ipswich Hospital.

Another motorcyclist was also taken to hospital with a shoulder injury following a collision with a car in Duke Street, Ipswich shortly after 7am. He was not so seriously injured.

Today freezing fog and black ice was causing problems for drivers - and brought operations at the Port of Felixstowe to a halt because of problems with frozen cranes.

Operation Stack was set up, but the situation was being monitored during the early morning and there were hopes the port would reopen once the sun was out.