A teenager was airlifted to hospital this morning following a four vehicle pile-up, involving a tractor and three lorries, which closed the A14 for more than seven hours.
The crash happened on the A14 at Rothwell at 6.40am, when a white articulated HGV lorry, travelling eastbound, collided with the back of a tractor and trailer travelling in the same direction.
The tractor then crashed into the opposite carriageway, where it collided with a refuse lorry, causing the lorry to overturn.
The tractor then collided with another HGV lorry, causing it to jack-knife.
Police this afternoon said the driver of the tractor, a 19-year-old man from Market Drayton, in Shropshire, was airlifted to Walsgrave Hospital in Coventry with “serious injuries”.
The drivers of the other vehicles – a 43-year-old man from Chatteris, in Cambridgeshire, a 55-year old man from Hucknall, in Nottinghamshire, and a 40-year-old man from Towcester – sustained minor injuries and were taken to Kettering General Hospital.
The westbound carriageway between junction 3, at Rothwell, and junction 7, at Kettering, was closed this morning to allow for recovery of the vehicles, repair of the central reservation and a scene investigation.
The road was re-opened shortly before 2pm this afternoon.
Witnesses to the collision, or anyone with information, can ring the Drivewatch Hotline on 0800 174615.