A driver was lucky to walk away from this huge smash on the A12, which left a car barely recognisable.

The dramatic photograph was Tweeted by Pc James Ireland, roads policing officer based at Essex Police’s Stanway Roads Policing Unit (RPU), after the accident on the A12 at Marks Tey, near Colchester, during the evening of Monday, January 28.

He wrote: “Thank you for your patience this evening whilst the late shift dealt with this on the #A12 at Marks Tey. Somehow no-one was injured.”

The road was closed while police dealt with the incident.

Figures from last year showed that 52 people died in road crashes in Essex in 2018, up from 46 in 2017.The A12 has also been named the most dangerous A-road in our region, according to data obtained on the number of crashes and casualties on our busiest roads.

The data, obtained by leading motorcycle and classic car insurance broker Carole Nash following a Freedom of Information request to the Department for Transport, showed there were 4,788 accidents involving 7,699 vehicles between 2007 and 2016.

In total there were 90 casualties in those crashes.