A trapped family had to be rescued by firefighters after a road accident at a busy junction in Colchester.

Hydraulic equipment was used to free 38-year-old Hazel Smith, her son and her daughter following a collision with a Scania lorry.

Mrs Smith and daughter Gemma, 16, of Colchester, were treated at Colchester General Hospital for whiplash and glass injuries.

The accident happened around 6.15pm on Monday at the junction of Ipswich Road and Cowdray Avenue.

Station officer Lee Neale, of Essex fire and rescue service, said one door of the family's Austin Metro was damaged in the collision. The other was jammed against railings.

"They were OK but they'd obviously been through a bit of a trauma," he said.

After the damaged door was burst open, Mrs Smith was treated for cuts to her right leg.

Her daughter had a bruised forearm. Neither was detained in hospital.

A spokesman for Stanway traffic police said both vehicles were turning left out of Ipswich Road when the accident happened.

The lorry driver was Mark Rapley, 32, of Old Heath Road, Colchester.

He did not need hospital treatment.

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