Elderly woman dies after Clayton-le-Moors lorry accident

6:54pm Tuesday 29th April 2008

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By Deborah Lewis »

A PENSIONER has died after she was knocked down by a 32 ton truck.

Jenny Clarkson, 80, of Canal Street,Clayton-le-Moors, was crossing at traffic lights on the A680 Whalley Road junction near the Hare and Hounds pub, when she was struck by the tipper wagon at 4pm, police said.

The impact caused 'extremely severe' injuries to both of her legs, and she was treated at the scene by paramedics before being taken by ambulance to Royal Blackburn Hospital.

An air ambulance also attended, but her injuries were considered too severe to risk moving her into the helicopter.

She underwent several hours of emergency surgery to her legs but later died.

Sergeant Pete Sculpher from the road policing unit said: "We are still in the early stages of investigating this incident.

"Thankfully several witnesses, both pedestrians and motorists, have come forward and we will be interviewing them to gather all the information we can, but if there any other witnesses who can help we would urge them to come forward."

Sgt Sculpher added that the driver of the truck, a 44-year-old man from Burnley, was too shocked by the incident to be interviewed immediately.

The truck belongs to Percliff Plant Hire, Philips Road, Blackburn,

"He is in deep shock, so we will wait until all the other evidence has been collected before speaking to him," he said.

Police closed Whalley Road towards Rishton for over two hours whilst the accident was investigated, causing rush hour traffic chaos in the area, with queues of traffic backing up to junction seven of the M65.

Any witnesses can contact the police on 01254 353210 or 01254 51212