Motorists cheated death when a heavy goods vehicle crashed on to its side and broke in two on a busy motorway near Bradford.

Three people were taken to hospital with minor injuries but rescuers said they had had a miracle escape.

The accident led to the closure of the M62 between junctions 25 at Brighouse and 24 at Ainley Top.

The road was blocked for several hours for the recovery of the vehicles.

The large lorry, believed to be carrying a caravan or a crane, keeled over on to its side in the accident yesterday lunch-time on the M62 near Brighouse.

The vehicle split into two and ended up straddled across both the westbound and eastbound carriageways. At least three cars, including a Vauxhall Vectra, were also involved in the accident, but police were unable to say how they had been caught up in the crash.

But a spokesman for West Yorkshire Metropolitan Ambulance Service confirmed they had taken three patients to Huddersfield Royal Infirmary.

The spokesman said: “One male, a passenger, had a minor neck injury. Two females had minor injuries and were taken to hospital for precautionary check-ups. Our staff at the scene said that everybody had had a lucky escape and it could have been a lot worse.”

She said the 62-year-old lorry driver was unharmed. He had been checked at the scene by paramedics and found to have no injuries.

The spokesman added: “It looks as if a lorry has shed its load and overturned. A couple of cars were involved as a result. We sent a doctor, a manager and three ambulances to the scene.”

A West Yorkshire Police spokesman said that a lorry and two cars had been involved in the accident. She said the lorry had split in half and gone from the eastbound to the westbound carriageway.