A driver had a lucky escape after his van was wrecked in a crash with a 17-ton lorry on the A34, near Oxford.

The Ford Escort van flipped on to its roof after hitting the lorry, which was parked on the edge of the road, yesterday afternoon.

The driver walked away with just cuts and bruises and refused hospital treatment when ambulance crews arrived at the scene.

A Thames Valley Police spokesman said the lorry driver may have broken down by the side of the road - but had not told police.

He said: "He was making his own arrangements for recovery. , not having told the police. It could have caused a potentially dangerous situation."

The lorry and the white Ford van crashed on the northbound carriageway of the A34, about one-mile north of the Peartree roundabout, in north Oxford. It is understood the van hit the lorry from behind, turned and flipped on to its roof. The driver has not been named.

Ambulance Supt Dave Hogg said: "He refused hospital treatment when we got there. I am amazed that anyone even walked away from that one."

The accident caused traffic chaos as tailbacks stretched for several mile when one lane of the A34 was closed while police cleared the crash wreckage from the road.

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