A lorry driver was airlifted to hospital this afternoon after his vehicle crashed into another lorry in Denholme.

The two articulated lorries collided head-on after one overturned on a sharp bend on the main road through the village.

The lorry's trailer crushed an empty car on the bend and narrowly avoided smashing into a house, just after 1.40pm.

Police closed the A629 between Long Causeway and Clock Lane as paramedics treated the injured man in his cab.

After he was freed by firefighters the driver, believed to be from Sheffield, was taken to hospital with a gashed arm and suspected broken pelvis.

The driver of the other vehicle, Haworth man Ellison Moore, who works for Haworth-based haulage JVM, escaped injury.

He had been driving his vehicle -- named "Jane Eyre" -- back home towards Keighley after dropping off a load in Manchester.

Chris Bartle, who lives in Mount Pleasant only yards from the incident, was one of the first on the scene.

He rushed to help after hearing one of the lorries braking and seeing it pass by on the road in front of him. Mr Bartle, a former lorry driver and now a postman, said: "I'd seen him coming to a stop and I heard a massive bang.

"I climbed on the passenger side of the other wagon. We managed to open the door after bashing on it to get the driver's attention."

Mr Bartle and other passers-by gave emergency treatment to the driver in his cab as they waited for paramedics and firefighters to arrive.

Paramedics treated the man in his cab then members of the Fire Service's Technical Rescue Team, based in Cleckheaton, removed the windscreen so he could be released.

Eight paramedics and firefighters carried the driver on a spinal board to the air ambulance, which ferried him to Leeds General Infirmary.

The incident was filmed by a BBC cameraman who regularly accompanies the air ambulance crew.

Mr Moore, who has been a lorry driver for 20 years, said he was already braking in readiness for the difficult bend.

He said: "I'd slowed down anyway when I could see him coming, then he put his brakes on and I could see him coming for me.

"The lorry turned over and slid along the road. It had more or less stopped when it hit me. I was stood still when it hit me."

Watch commander Andy Quinn led firefighters from Fairweather Green, Cleckheaton and Illingworth who attended the incident. He said the technical rescue team placed a special protector around the steering wheel to stop the airbag inflating and causing further injury to the driver.

Mr Quinn added: "He wasn't actually trapped. The paramedics were tending to him while we worked."