MOTORISTS escaped serious injury in a head on smash involving a fuel tanker and two cars on Teesside, today.

Emergency service workers said it was "nothing short of a miracle" that there were no serious injuries following the pile up at the busy junction of the A1185 Seal Sands tanker relief road and Marsh House Avenue, Billingham.

A taxi driver sustained minor head injuries while the driver of the second car was treated at the scene for shock.

The driver of the kerosene tanker was unhurt.

Steve Waggitt (COR), Watch Manager, with Cleveland Fire Brigade at Billingham, said: "It could have been considerably worse than it was.

"It could have been horrendous: conditions are appalling with a lot of surface water; and the area where it happened is a well used junction."

He added: "A couple of people passing in their car gave the taxi driver first aid and did a good job. The guy in the other car involved was suffering from shock, but had no physical injuries."

The taxi was waiting to turn right into Marsh House Avenue from the A1185 when it was involved in a collision with the tanker.

Both the HGV and the second car involved had been travelling towards the taxi, from the opposite direction.

The pile up brought chaos to the area's morning rush hour as Cleveland Police were forced to close off sections of road so the crash could be investigated.

A spokeswoman for the Force said: "Fortunately it looks worse than it was. It was a bad time of day. We had to close roads and it was raining. Fortunately, the incident was not as serious as it could have been."