A young driver had a lucky escape after an accident which left pesticides spilled over a country road.
Police officers who attended the scene in Goldhanger, near Maldon, yesterday said the accident could have been much worse.
PC Steve Allum, of Chelmsford police, said the man had been driving in the direction of Colchester when his truck, carrying a barrel of pesticides, collided with a large tree, knocking it out of the ground.
Two Maldon fire engines and one from Colchester, as well as several police cars, attended the scene following the crash, at about 3pm.
PC Allum said: "Whenever there are chemicals involved, we panic and make sure there are more than enough people there to deal with any eventuality.
"However, in this case it was a fairly small quantity of a mild irritant pesticide and all we had to do was cover it over with mud."
The driver of the open-backed truck had to be cut free from the vehicle and was taken to Colchester General Hospital by ambulance, suffering chest injuries.
Published Thursday July 29, 2004
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