A 13-YEAR-OLD cyclist from Derby had to be airlifted to hospital after he was injured in a collision with a truck.

The incident happened in Cromford, at the junction of Cromford Hill and Water Lane, at 3.30pm yesterday.

The road was closed so the youngster could be treated at the scene before going by air ambulance to Queen's Medical Centre, in Nottingham.

Police said he suffered a suspected broken pelvis but no life-threatening injuries.

One witness, Don McIntosh, manager of Cromford Newsagent, opposite the accident scene, said he saw one of the truck's rear wheels go over the teenager.

He said the lorry, which he believed was 16 tonnes, had been travelling down Cromford Hill to turn left into Water Lane while about eight youngsters on bikes rode in the same direction.

Mr McIntosh said that, when the cyclists came to the junction, six stopped, one made it across but another couldn't stop in time.

He said: "The lorry driver didn't see him. He didn't know anything about it until the back (of his vehicle) went over him. When I looked up I saw the back wheels going over him – over the area around his hip. He started screaming."

Mr McIntosh said a passing doctor had stopped to help.

He said: "She was with him until the ambulance arrived. My wife called 999. He looked in pain but he was aware. The good thing was that he was awake. It looked as if he was going to be ok."

Mr McIntosh said he did not believe the lorry driver had done anything wrong and added that he couldn't tell to which quarry company the unmarked truck belonged.

He said the air ambulance had landed in a nearby field and taken the boy away at about 4.40pm.

Linda Dawson, manager of Linda's Plaice fish and chip ship, next door to the newsagent's, said the junction was "an accident waiting to happen".

She said: "It's the sheer volume of traffic that makes it dangerous. I heard the rattling of the lorry and then a child screaming but didn't see the accident."

A police spokeswoman said the 13-year-old suffered a suspected broken pelvis and severe bruising to his left leg but she added the injury was not "life-threatening or life-changing".