A THREE-year-old boy was rescued from the wreckage of a car following a collision with a 17-tonne HGV on a notorious stretch of East Lancashire road.

The accident, the fifth serious smash in 12 months on the same stretch of the A59 near Clitheroe, has prompted Ribble Valley MP Nigel Evans to renew his call for a roundabout at the spot.

The child, who suffered cuts and bruises in the smash, was travelling in a silver Daewoo Tacuma people carrier when the accident happened at the junction of Pendle Road and the A59 on Wednesday.

Police said the Daewoo collided with the truck at just after 7pm, leaving the boy and a man and a woman, believed to be his parents and all from Blackburn, suffering from minor injuries.

The male driver was taken to Blackburn Royal Infirmary with cuts to the head and elbows and minor pelvic injuries.

The woman had minor head injuries but, as with the boy, did not need hospital treatment.

The driver of the truck was uninjured.

A spokeswomen for Clitheroe police said: "It's not yet known what caused the collision but the accident investigation team from Accrington were called to the scene and will be trying to piece together what happened."

Pendle Road was closed for two hours while investigators examined the scene. It was re-opened at around 9.30pm.

Nigel Evans MP said: "The fact that nobody died in this incident is probably down to more luck than anything else.

"Luck will run out at this junction sooner rather than later. We don't know when another death is going to occur, but we do know where.

"What we need is a roundabout at this junction. Pendle Road is used as a rat run for people going over the Nick of Pendle to Burnley and Clitheroe and it must be one of the busiest junctions with a so-called minor road in the country.

"A roundabout would slow traffic and reduce deaths and serious injury crashes."