A 45-year-old motorcyclist was airlifted to hospital with serious leg injuries after his bike collided with a car just outside Market Drayton.

Motorists faced delays for two-and-a-half hours after police closed the A53 bypass between the Gingerbread Man roundabout and the junction with Newcastle Road.

The smash happened at about 1.45pm yesterday.

West Mercia Police spokeswoman Maria Hawkaluk said traffic was diverted through Market Drayton town centre while police and firefighters made the vehicles safe and mopped up a fuel spillage.

John Hawker, for West Midlands Ambulance Service, said the man received emergency treatment at the scene and also suffered serious pelvic injuries. He was airlifted to North Staffordshire Hospital in Stoke. He said no-one else was hurt.

And today a motorist had a lucky escape after being trapped in the cab of his van after it rolled over as he was travelling down a steep narrow lane in a Shropshire village.

The driver was freed by fire and ambulance crews from the upturned van in Netherton Lane, near Highley, Bridgnorth, at about 5.30am.

Meanwhile a man in his 20s remains in a critical but stable condition in Selly Oak Hospital in Birmingham today after a red Volkswagen Golf he was driving smashed into a tree stump and flipped over in Haughton Lane, Shifnal.