NORTH-EAST coach passengers had to be cut free from wreckage when their bus collided with a lorry on a motorway.

More than 40 people needed treatment after their 52-seater vehicle, believed to have travelled from Dover, collided with a truck on the M20, in Kent, at 1.25am yesterday.

Seven ambulances rushed to the scene to treat the passengers and the driver, from the Newcastle area, who was one of four freed from the wreckage who was taken to the William Harvey Hospital, in Ashford, while other passengers were treated at the roadside.

The driver was seriously injured, but was said to be in a comfortable condition.

Kent Police confirmed the coach was from the Northumberland area, but were unable to say how many of the passengers were from the North-East.

There were unconfirmed reports that the trip was taking people shopping to buy alcohol and tobacco on the continent.

A spokeswoman for Kent Police said most of those hurt received cuts and bruises.

She said: "It would appear the driver is from Newcastle and his family are with him in hospital. We don't know where the coach has come from at this stage."

The lorry hit the central reservation and motorway maintenance staff worked through the night to repair the damage. Traffic queues backed up the motorway, and the stretch from junction nine, at Ashford, to junction eight, Maidstone, was closed until 8.30am.