A MAN was killed and a woman injured when their car was in collision with a 26-tonne bin lorry on the A35 yesterday.

The elderly couple were travelling in a red Citroen Berlingo when the crash happened with a West Dorset District Council-owned dust cart at around 1pm.

The 72-year-old car driver, from Tunbridge Wells, was pronounced dead at the scene, while his wifewas taken by ambulance to nearby Dorset County Hospital in Dorchester with ‘minor injuries’.

The driver of the dust cart was ‘uninjured but shocked’.

Queues of bank holiday traffic built up as the road was closed between Monkey’s Jump roundabout, near Dorchester and Winterbourne Abbas and diversions were put in place.

The Dorset Police helicopter, operating in the area, attended the incident along with ambulance crews and Dorset Fire and Rescue Service.

A Dorset Police spokesman said the car driver, with his wife as a front seat passenger, had pulled into the large layby on the westbound carriageway.

He said: “Other members of the public said the Citroen Berlingo only stopped a short while before it pulled away in what appeared to be a U-turn type manoeuvre.

“Unfortunately it left the layby directly into the path of a 26-tonne refuge lorry travelling on the A35 towards Bridport.

“There was a huge impact between the two vehicles.

“The driver unfortunately died at the scene, his wife was taken to Dorset County Hospital with minor injuries.”

Inspector Matt Butler added: “We worked with the Highways Agency to put in place pre-planned diversion routes.

“We were very conscious of the fact that we had a lot of people on holiday and kept the traffic flowing well.

“The police helicopter, which was in the area for an incident involving a missing person, landed to help.

“It’s now our duty to investigate what happened and how this person lost his life.”

A resident at the nearby Radio Station Cottages, who did not wish to be named, said: “It was nose to tail with traffic outside our house.

“Then the police helicopter landed in a farmer’s field close to the incident.

“It’s so sad to hear this was fatal.”

Resident Chris Walton, aged 62, helped to divert traffic away from the collision.

He said: “It’s just terrible.

“I saw the police helicopter land so I went out to the road to see what was going on.

“All the traffic was jamming up pretty quickly so I started to turn them around and send them round the back way.

“We get quite a few crashes on this road.

“We’re worried up here about the speed, it’s pretty hectic.”

One driver who got caught up in the congestion said: “It looked really bad and there were a lot of emergency workers at the scene.

“There were no problems with the traffic as everyone accepted that it must have been serious for the road to be closed and they just followed diversions.”

Dorset Police are appealing for witnesses to the collision or anyone who saw either vehicle driving prior to the crash to contact Sergeant Steve Quill on 101.