A road worker was taken to hospital after a ‘fail to stop’ collision at the Rising Bridge roundabout.

Highways England said a driver shouted abuse at the worker before speeding through the roadworks and striking the worker’s leg.

The incident happened on the A56 near Haslingden on Tuesday, July 5.

The roundabout had just been closed for the night as part of a £4.5 million road improvement scheme when the driver arrived on the scene and attempted to drive through by removing cones.

Highways England bosses said when one of the road workers intervened to make the driver aware that the road was closed, the driver shouted abuse at him and sped through the roadworks before striking the worker’s leg.

The car was then driven further into the roadworks towards machinery and other road workers. It then swerved onto a grass verge to get through and collided with a contractor’s flatbed truck before driving off.

The car registration was reported to Lancashire Police, who are now investigating the incident.

Alan Shepherd, Highways England’s Regional Director in the North West, said ‘no-one should have to suffer this kind of abuse for doing their job’.

He said: “Our workers routinely face verbal abuse from drivers as they do their job and shockingly this led to one of them being injured earlier this week.

"Road workers are trying to do a difficult job to improve drivers’ journeys and often work at unsociable hours overnight when traffic levels are at their lowest.

“No-one should have to suffer this kind of abuse just for doing their job, and I hope drivers who have been abusive to road workers or attempted to drive into roadworks in the past will reconsider their attitudes as a result of this incident.”

Lancashire Police said they were called at around 9.40pm on Tuesday, July 5, to reports of a collision on Rising Bridge Road in Accrington.

A spokesperson said: “A black Ford Focus had driven through a closed section of road along the A56 before colliding with a traffic management truck.

The driver of the vehicle then continued through roadworks before making off towards Accrington.”

Anyone with information about the incident can contact police on 101 quoting log reference 1605.

The project to upgrade the Rising Bridge roundabout will benefit cyclists and pedestrians as well as drivers and includes new traffic lights, pedestrian crossings and cycle lanes, linking villages, schools and businesses on either side of the busy A56.

The roundabout – which links the A56 to the A680 Blackburn Road – will also be resurfaced and new lights will be installed.