A MAN was fighting for his life and a Bournemouth lorry driver was in a serious condition on Friday night after a Royal Mail vehicle smashed into the front of a hotel.

A man walking along the pavement was struck by the Royal Mail lorry and catapulted through a glass window.

The pedestrian had to have one of his legs amputated at the scene before being flown to hospital.

The Royal Mail driver, from Bournemouth, was said to have been knocked unconscious for 45 minutes in the collision and also had to be airlifted to hospital after being cut free by firemen.

A hotel worker was described as “walking wounded” and was taken away in an ambulance.

The historic Mariner’s Hotel in Lyme Regis was declared structurally unsound after the front of the lorry was embedded in the lobby.

The 7.5 tonne lorry is thought to have been in collision with a trailer being pulled by a Mitsubishi L200 truck before careering into the hotel.

The pedestrian was named locally as Lyme Regis man Alexander Quan-Yat-Koon, more commonly known as Sandy.

He has a wife and a young child.

Witness Nigel Ray said: “I heard an almighty noise and went to look and by then lots of people had gathered around.”

Joelle Chestney, 38, the manager of the nearby Nags Head pub, said: “The lorry remained in the hotel for some time because it was actually holding it up.”

He added: “The lorry driver had a really bad head injury and I saw him being given oxygen before he was taken away in the helicopter.”

Dorset police said the lorry driver was flown to the Dorset County Hospital at Dorchester while the pedestrian was flown to the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital.

A police spokesman said: “We received a call from a man on a mobile phone at 9.50am reporting a serious injury collision along Silver Street in Lyme Regis.

“A red DAF lorry collided with a Mitsubishi car and subsequently a pedestrian and the Mariners Hotel along Silver Street.”