A LORRY driver received emergency roadside treatment after his heavy goods vehicle overturned on a busy stretch of the M42 near Bromsgrove.

Emergency crews were called out just before 5am last Wednesday after the lorry overturned on the link road between the M42 and M5.

The truck was carrying glass bottles which shattered across the carriageway leaving the road covered with 20 to 30 tonnes of broken glass.

Police closed the link road at 6.20am, only reopening one lane at 3.15pm, which caused extensive delays and traffic chaos.

Commuters were diverted via the A38 causing tailbacks on the northbound M5 from Bromsgrove back to Droitwich and for four or five miles along the M42.

The lorry driver, who comes from Tuffley, Gloucestershire, was trapped for around two hours. He was cut free from the crumpled wreckage of his cab by firefighters from Bromsgrove and Redditch using hydraulic equipment.

Paramedics, police and flying doctors attended the scene.

A spokesman for Hereford and Worcester Fire Brigade said the driver was trapped by his leg and he received treatment before he was taken to the trauma unit at Selly Oak Hospital in Birmingham.

One eyewitness said: "The lorry was on its side and seemed to stretch over two lanes. There were horrendous tailbacks right from Lydiate Ash to Droitwich. The M42 going north was gridlocked."