A LORRY driver suffered serious injuries after falling from a 30ft high flyover when his vehicle overturned, catapulting him from his cab.

The incident happened on the busy A19 northbound flyover near Middlesbrough at about 11am yesterday when the lorry hit a barrier coming off the sliproad from the A66 and landed on its side.

The impact of the crash resulted in the driver, from Thornaby, being thrown out of his vehicle onto the embankment, landing about 12ft below, before finally coming to a stop further down the slope.

Police, paramedics, Great North Air Ambulance and the fire brigade were called to the incident.

The A66 westbound and the A19 northbound were closed for much of the day as police struggled to recover the lorry from its precarious position on the flyover, and clear up a diesel spillage.

The lorry driver is thought to have suffered serious, but not life-threatening, injuries and was last night said to be in a stable condition with pelvis, spinal and chest injuries after being airlifted to The James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough.

A spokesman for the Great North Air Ambulance said: “He was very lucky. The wagon tipped and the driver was thrown from the cab, either through the windscreen or out of a window. He fell about four metres onto a bank below and then rolled another two metres or so.

“The man was treated at the scene before being airlifted.

His injuries are thought to be not life-threatening.”

The air ambulance landed on the A19 southbound carriageway after police closed the road to allow paramedics to reach the crash scene.

A Cleveland Police spokeswoman said: “We were called, along with the fire brigade and air ambulance, to reports of a lorry on its side on the northbound carriageway of the A19 at 11am, near the sliproad to Middlesbrough.

“The driver has fallen out of his lorry during the accident and has fallen off the flyover – a height of more than 30ft.

“He was airlifted to hospital and the northbound carriageway was closed to deal with the incident.”