Driver, 22, dies in horror smash

Glynn Johnson, aged 22, suffered a broken neck and died at the scene of the crash, on the A18 at High Levels Bank, Thorne.

Police say the front seat passenger, a 17-year-old girl who survived the smash, has told them he swerved to avoid hitting the fox. But the powerful Toyota MR2 spun out of control.

The car then hit a number of concrete bollards at the side of the road, causing extensive damage to the nearside of the car but the teenager, who lives in Thorne and has not been named, escaped with bruising to her left arm and shock.

She was taken to hospital but allowed home after treatment and will be giving a statement to police later.

Mr Johnson, of Briar Road, Armthorpe, was driving towards Thorne, past a row of cottages, when the car went out of control. No other vehicles were involved.

Thorne firefighters helped release the driver from the MR2, which sustained extensive nearside damage, and a police spokesman said the girl had been extremely lucky not to have been more seriously injured.

The wrecked car finished-up partly off the road in a ditch, on the straight stretch of the A18.

A post-mortem examination was being carried out today and Doncaster Coroner Stanley Hooper will be opening an inquest next week.

Road policing group officers say there were no independent witnesses, although several drivers stopped to give first aid.

But they would like to hear from anyone who saw the manner in which the black Toyota was being driven shortly before the collision occurred at 8.40pm yesterday.

Witnesses should call police on 0114 220 2970.

Police today named the driver who died when he ran across the M18 after his camper van collided with a lorry early yesterday.

He was 42-year-old Simon Blessed, of Monk Spring, Worsborough, near Barnsley, who was in collision with a Vauxhall Astra van on the south-bound carriageway, near the Wadworth interchange, just after 5am.

His Mercedes Sprinter van ended up on its side on the north-bound carriageway after it also hit a VW Beetle, and Mr Blessed is believed to have got out and jumped over the central barrier before being fatally struck by the Astra.

The motorway was closed for three hours during yesterday's rush hour to allow the police investigation.