THE environmental impact of a large milk spillage was avoided thanks to the actions of fire crews called to a collision involving a milk tanker near Hampton Lovett.

The collision, involving a car and a milk tanker containing 28,000 litres of milk, happened at around 1.30pm on Saturday on the A442 Droitwich to Kidderminster road as the tanker was heading towards the dairy in Hampton Lovett to make a delivery.

Fire crews from Droitwich and Bromsgrove attended, along with the Incident Response Unit from Droitwich and the Environmental Protection Unit from Stourport.

The driver of the car was injured during the collision and taken by land ambulance to hospital. The tanker driver was shocked but otherwise unhurt and while the tanker itself was not seriously damaged the impact of the collision had caused a small leak of milk from a valve on the vehicle.

Station Commander Ian Jallands of Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service said: “Thankfully, crews were soon at the scene and firefighters from Droitwich worked quickly to tighten a nut and prevent further leakage from the valve.”

He confirmed that only around five litres of milk had leaked from the tanker but that the incident would have been far worse from an environmental perspective had the full 28,000 litres leaked out into the local drainage system or into the nearby River Salwarpe.

Once the leak was contained, fire crews escorted the tanker on the half-mile journey to the dairy.

A collision investigation unit from the police also attended the incident and the A442 was closed during the afternoon until their work was completed.