AN 81-YEAR-OLD man was airlifted to hopital with serious head injuries after his car crashed into the back of a stationary truck.

The driver was taken to Royal Preston Hospital after his Toyota Corolla ploughed into the back of the 7.5 tonne truck in Colne Road, near the Old Stone Trough hotel, at around 10am yesterday.

Traffic police and paramedics bent the door back to free the elderly driver, from Skipton, who also sustained a suspected broken leg in the accident.

Police closed the road between Foulridge and Kelbrook for two hours causing long tailbacks while they carried out an investigation.

The driver of the QNQ recovery truck, from Barnsley, which had broken down, sustained back injuries from the collision, police said.

Firefighters from Barnolds-wick were called to the scene by the police, but were not needed.

Station manager Denise Odgers said: “The casualty was out of the car when we arrived. We did a little preventative work to stop fuel spillage on the road.”

PC Brendan Williams, from Colne road policing unit, said: “The car driver was taken to hospital by helicopter.’ “He is not suffering from serious injuries, but we believe he may have been taken ill at the wheel.

“Initially we called for assistance from the fire brigade, but road police and paramedics were able to bend the door back and release the driver.

“He hit the 7.5 tonne truck, causing substantial damage to his vehicle.

The truck had been parked for around an hour and a half because it had broken down and was awaiting recovery.

“It was visible from some distance away and for some unknown reason the casualty has not seen it.

“The man was conscious and talking but clearly shaken up.”

A spokeswoman from the North West Air Ambulance said: “We can confirm that we were called to the incident at 10.22am involving a male in his 80s.”