COLLISION investigators are trying to piece together why a coach carrying North-East party-goers had to avoid an overturned lorry on a busy road.

Forty-two Carphone Warehouse employees were heading back to Newcastle when they were involved in the crash with a Tesco HGV.

They had been in attendance at their company’s annual ball in the capital on Saturday night before setting off for the North-East in the early hours of Sunday morning.

The lorry is believed to have been travelling south on the A1 before it was found overturned and blocking both lanes on the northbound carriageway.

Passenger Laura Dunn, of Thornaby, who suffered bruising, said on Facebook: “I still can't get over how lucky we all were. The driver was so switched on and it's so lucky he managed to keep the coach upright.

“I was asleep so not sure completely what happened but there was an overturned lorry on the road we crashed into that and then we went into the centre barrier.”

The two drivers, who had to be cut from their vehicles, were taken to Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, with serious injuries while the 11 with minor injuries were taken to the nearby Hinchingbrooke Hospital.

Twenty-nine passengers were found by the emergency services at the side of the A1 between Buckden and St Neots, Cambridgeshire, after escaping the wreckage.

They were temporarily accommodated in a rest centre provided by Huntingdonshire District Council before returning to the region last night on a replacement coach.

A driver, who witnessed the crash but did not want to be named, said: “I saw lots of young people standing on the side of the road, all dressed up as if they had been on a big night out.”

The southbound lanes were in use at 2.20pm, with the A1 fully re-opened by 4.15pm.

A spokeswoman for Tesco said: "We can confirm that a Tesco vehicle was involved in an incident on the A1 in the early hours of yesterday morning.

"We are thinking of those involved and are working with the authorities to understand what happened."

Callum Faint, incident commander at Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service, said: "The lorry was overturned and across the carriageway. Due to the impact both the driver and co-driver of the coach were trapped and all the other occupants were suffering various degrees of minor impact injuries.

He added: “None of the casualties are believed to have life-threatening injuries."