A MOTORIST had to be cut free from her badly damaged car after an early morning rush-hour crash.

Traffic was reduced to a crawl shortly before 8am on Tuesday when a black Vauxhall Vectra was in collision with a red Ford Mondeo, driven by a 56-year-old local man, at the junction of Bury Old Road and Kings Road in Prestwich.

Firefighters removed the driver's door of the Vectra to free the 56-year-old female occupant who, it was feared, had suffered whiplash injuries.

She was later given the all-clear by staff at North Manchester General Hospital.