A MILK TANKER driver had a narrow escape when the vehicle overturned and crashed into a ditch.

The 58-year-old man, thought to be from Thirsk, was travelling to farms between Whenby and Sheriff Hutton when the accident happened yesterday at about 1.15pm.

Firefighters from Easingwold and Malton were called to the scene after reports that the man was trapped in the wreckage. Special hydraulic lifting gear was also mobilised by fire crews in Acomb.

PC Neil Campbell, of the Malton policing group, said the man was trapped in the crushed lorry cab, but was freed by passers-by.

He said: "The man received minor injuries and was treated by paramedics before being transferred to York District Hospital."

The 22,000 litre capacity Zenith tanker was almost full when the accident happened. But not a drop of the 19,000 litres inside the tanker was spilled.

A spokesman for Zenith, based at Dalton, near Thirsk, said the accident could have been much worse.

He said: "He has been a very lucky guy.

"He's one of the most careful drivers we have got, and even managed to call us from the cab to say what had happened. If the cab had hit a big tree instead of its hitting the barrel of the tanker, things would have been very different."

PC Campbell said: "We think that as the tanker came round the bend, the inertia of the milk inside caused it to overturn."

Updated: 11:35 Friday, March 15, 2002