Man tells how he was almost involved in collision with van during police chase before major Cramlington crash

A man has told of how he was almost involved in a head-on collision with a van moments before a serious crash which has left eight people in hospital.

The 20-year-old driver, who has asked not to be named, said he was driving to work in Cramlington ^[1] when he encountered a van driving erratically on the wrong side of the road, close to the A1068 Fisher Lane where a crash occurred minutes later.

"It was like something out of a film," he told ChronicleLive. "I was expecting to go to work like every other day and then I turned left and there was a van bombing towards me on the wrong side of a duel carriageway.

"It didn't feel real. Even talking about it now it feels weird that it actually happened," he added.

The apprentice design engineer said that as he entered the A1068 roundabout and turned left onto the A1172 towards the Azure Garden Centre he was almost hit by a van travelling at speed and in the wrong direction.

He said: "I turned left and didn't expect to see anything but then I saw the van. I think my first thought was confusion. I swerved out of the way, then he swerved. Then I slowed right down to about 20mph on a 50mph road while I processed what had just happened. I was just in a state of confusion about it all.

"I had to swerve and the driver swerved but obviously with the speed he was going at he lost control of the van a little bit and mounted the kerb. The van scraped through the bushes and then the back door came open and he sped off the wrong way round the roundabout up towards Fisher Lane," he added.

The driver said the incident happened at around 9.20am and estimates that the van was travelling at around 80mph. At 9.25am emergency services received a report of a collision between a van and a car on the A1068 Fisher Lane northbound, near to the Snowy Owl pub. The van had been involved in a police pursuit prior to the incident.

It is alleged that the van was reported stolen from Newburn shortly after 8.40am and was later spotted travelling towards Cramlington, but failed to stop when instructed by officers.

A huge emergency service response was actioned following the collision, with Northumbria Police ^[3], Northumberland ^[4] Fire and Rescue Service, North East Ambulance Service ^[5] (NEAS) and the North East Air Ambulance Service all in attendance.

Six ambulance crews, a clinical team leader, a specialist paramedic, three crews from its Hazardous Area Response Team (HART), and the Great North Air Ambulance Service ^[6] (GNAAS) attended the scene following the collision and eight people were taken to hospital.

Four patients were taken by road to the Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital (NSECH), and three patients were taken by road and one by air to the Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI) for further treatment.

Police at the scene of a collision on Fisher Lane (Image: Newcastle Chronicle)

A Northumbria Police spokesperson said: "Shortly after 8.40am today (Friday) police received a report that a van had been stolen from outside of an address in Newburn. A short time later, the vehicle was sighted travelling towards Cramlington and the occupant failed to stop when instructed by police.

"Following a short pursuit, the van was in a collision with a car on the A1068 Fisher Lane northbound, near to the Snowy Owl pub. Emergency services are in attendance at the scene and the road is currently closed in both directions between the A1 at Seaton Burn and A1172 Station Road.

"As is standard practice in such incidents, the collision has been referred to the Independent Office for Police Conduct. Enquiries into the collision are ongoing and anyone with information is asked to contact police using the ‘Tell Us Something’ page on our website or by calling 101 quoting log NP-20230908-0225."

The road was closed for much of the day, and finally reopened just before 6pm.

References

^{^} Cramlington (www.chroniclelive.co.uk)
^{^} Everything we know as 'stolen' van involved in police pursuit crashes in Cramlington leaving eight injured (www.chroniclelive.co.uk)
^{^} Northumbria Police (www.chroniclelive.co.uk)
^{^} Northumberland (www.chroniclelive.co.uk)
^{^} North East Ambulance Service (www.chroniclelive.co.uk)
^{^} Great North Air Ambulance Service (www.chroniclelive.co.uk)