TWO drivers escaped serious injury on Tuesday afternoon when a builder's trailer laden with cement was crushed by a seven-tonne truck.

The trailer was being towed by a 4 x 4 vehicle along the A350 towards Warminster when it was in collision with the unladen curtain-sided lorry.

The lorry, which normally carries chemicals, took evasive action and drove off the road into the field on the outskirts of Westbury.

The lorry driver, Simon Lovell, of Bristol, said: "The trailer just came into my path and I had to take some avoiding action otherwise I would have hit the towing vehicle head on."

The lorry careered over the laden trailer, leaving the road littered with debris.

Police closed one carriageway of the road, causing traffic congestion for nearly an hour.

Mr Lovell said: "Luckily the lorry never tipped over. I just grabbed hold of the driving wheel and hung on."

He added that the driver of the 4 x 4 thanked him for his quick actions, saying: "Your actions have saved my life, if you had hit me head on it would have been a different story. Luckily no one was hurt."