POLICE officers and a dog unit surrounded a crashed security van while £640,000 in cash was transferred to another vehicle.The heavy armoured Securicor vehicle tipped onto its side in a ditch on the Fambridge Road, Maldon, after colliding almost head-on with a Nissan Almera car coming from the opposite direction at 7.

POLICE officers and a dog unit surrounded a crashed security van while £640,000 in cash was transferred to another vehicle.

The heavy armoured Securicor vehicle tipped onto its side in a ditch on the Fambridge Road, Maldon, after colliding almost head-on with a Nissan Almera car coming from the opposite direction at 7.10am yesterday .

The three-man crew, two in the front cab and one in the back, suffered cuts and bruises. Two were taken to Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford but were not seriously hurt.

A second armoured car arrived within minutes and guards transferred the heavy sacks of cash from the damaged vehicle to the other van while police officers and a German Shepherd guard dog stood by.

The woman driver of the Nissan was trapped in her wrecked car for nearly 90 minutes while fire crews cut her free. She was airlifted to Colchester General Hospital with a suspected broken leg and wrist.

A police spokesman said later: "We sent additional officers to the scene to ensure the safety of the load when we learned of its high value. It was an unusual incident."

Four fire crews attended the incident, two from Maldon, one from Colchester and another from Chelmsford.

A passer-by said: "I had a look around in the ditch when they had gone in case they had lost one of those big bags of cash in the grass, but no luck."

Nobody from Securicor was able to comment on the accident last night .