Overturned milk tanker closes road near Shifnal
[gallery] An overturned tanker caused rush-hour chaos after it flooded a busy commuter route with milk.
The lorry from Robert Wiseman Dairies overturned yesterday afternoon on Pickmere Island on the junction of the A41 and A5, near Shifnal, spilling its load.
The A41 was blocked by the lorry and was then closed by police at about 2.50pm.
The accident caused tailbacks on both the A41 and A5.
Shropshire Star reader Martin Sarling sent in his pictures of the crash, showing the 'river of milk' that was caused by the overturned lorry.
The driver of the lorry was initially trapped and is believed to have suffered minor facial injuries.
He was released from the vehicle before the fire service arrived.
Fire crews from Wellington, Tweedale, Telford and Albrighton were called to the scene. Darren Smith, incident commander from Telford Central, said: "Milk is one of the worst things in the watercourse as it kills everything.
"But we managed to stem the flow, and initially used buckets and matts to mop up the milk but it mostly went into a grass verge."
Officials from the Environment Agency were called out but no milk had entered the watercourse.
The tanker driver was taken to New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton. A spokesman for Robert Wiseman Dairies said: "We are aware of it and we will be investigating what happened."
By Judith Sanders
