AN 18-year-old who suffered horrific injuries after the car he was driving collided with a lorry yesterday is improving, police say.

Laurence Cawley

AN 18-year-old who suffered horrific injuries after the car he was driving collided with a lorry yesterday is improving, police say.

Emergency service crews were called to the A143 near Great Barton, Bury St Edmunds, at about 8.20am and found the twisted wreckage of a blue Ford Fiesta and the yellow heavy goods vehicle.

Firefighters from Bury and Ixworth used special cutting gear to peel back the roof of the car to free the young man from his vehicle.

Paramedics took the 18-year-old, who is from the Eye area and who had suffered lower leg injuries, to the West Suffolk Hospital at Bury St Edmunds.

Initially, police feared he had suffered injuries from which he would never recover.

But today the police have said his condition is improving.

A force spokeswoman said: “His injuries are no longer considered life-changing and he has been moved out of the high dependency area onto a general ward.”

It is understood he is likely to remain in hospital until next week.