A woman was last night in a stable condition after firemen cut her free from her car following a collision with an articulated lorry.

The woman, in her early sixties, suffered a broken leg, broken arm and chest injuries in the accident on the A66 near Scotch Corner, North Yorkshire.

Though badly hurt she chatted to firemen half an hour as they cut the roof off her Renault Laguna car so that they could reach her and ease her out.

A fire brigade official said yesterday: "She was very plucky and talked all the time as we were getting her out. It was quite a difficult operation."

The woman was driving west on the road towards Bowes, County Durham, and the lorry was coming the other way.

She was taken by air ambulance to the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough. The lorry driver suffered from shock.

The road was closed for more than five hours after the crash on Monday afternoon.

A police spokesman said the woman's car ended in a ditch after the collision near the Sedbury services layby.

A tailback of traffic caused problems on the A1 road as well as the A66 before the rescue team completed the task of freeing the woman and transferring her to the air ambulance. Diversions were then put in place.