Two men had to be pried from the wrecked cabin of a commercial van and taken to hospital, after their vehicle struck a heavy truck that was parked on South Road, Paget, repairing potholes.

A fire officer described it as a “very, very difficult extraction”, taking 40 minutes, as the two vehicles were “completely entangled”. The injured men were said to be conscious and alert when removed.

The crash with the crane dump truck, which occurred shortly after 11am yesterday about 200m west of the Trimingham Hill roundabout, backed up traffic as far as Crow Lane as traffic was diverted onto Harbour Road.

It was followed by a second collision on Middle Road near Warwick, where traffic was heavy, but the incident was not reported as serious.