Almost at death's doors: Young woman driver, 24, escapes unhurt after lorryload of doors fall onto her car in freak accident

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Lucy Elmes escapes with just cuts and bruises after the accident near Ipswich, Suffolk

Published: 02:47 EST, 3 June 2012 | Updated: 02:48 EST, 3 June 2012

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A terrified young woman driver escaped death as heavy doors plunged through her windscreen after a lorry crashed on a bridge above her in a freak accident.

Lucy Elmes, 24, was paralysed with fear as she thought she would die in the dramatic million-to-one road smash.

One minute she was singing along to her car radio, the next she was in deep shock as doors battered her white Vauxhall Corsa.

Lucy was driving on the A14 at Copdock, near Ipswich, Suffolk, when the terrifying drama happened on Monday morning.

Stricken: The lorry on its side on a bridge over the A14. Some of its cargo fell onto the carriageway below and struck Lucy Elmes' car

Lucky escape: Lucy Elmes escaped the crash with just cuts and bruises

Lucky escape: Lucy Elmes had a lucky escape after the lorry crashed and shed some of its load onto her car

The huge lorry jack-knifed on the bridge towering over the busy carriageway, spewing its cargo into her path and wrecking her car.

Miss Elmes said: 'I was just driving along singing to the radio, as you do, and I thought I saw a cardboard box falling from above.

'Then as I got closer and closer to the bridge above I realised that they were actually doors and I just couldn't believe it.

'I didn't know what to do - whether to swerve and maybe make things worse - so instead I just braced myself and had to keep going.'

Wreck: The damage caused to Lucy Elmes' Vauxhall Corsa when it was struck by doors falling from a stricken lorry

Terrifying: The damage as seen from inside Lucy Elmes' Vauxhall Corsa

The community sports coach added: 'I still can't really believe that it happened to me, I was so shocked after it all.

'It hit really hard and in that moment I just kept thinking am I going to die'?

Several doors and metal railings from the bridge above showered her car.

Miss Elmes said she began to panic again, fearing for her safety as she was stranded in the middle of the carriageway, at risk of another vehicle ploughing into her.

Miraculously, she survived the crash ~ suffering just minor cuts and bruises.

She even managed to pull herself out of her wrecked vehicle before emergency services arrived.

Miss Elmes was taken to Ipswich Hospital for treatment and is now recovering from her nightmare ordeal at her home in Elmsett.

She thanked a couple in a convertible who rushed to her aid after seeing her car crushed by the falling doors.

'I have to say a massive thank you to that couple in a convertible, they said they had seen the doors hit me in their rear view mirror,' Miss Elmes said.

'They then reserved backwards down the road to get to me.

'They were amazing, they stayed with me until paramedics arrived and they kept me calm.

'I can't thank them enough and considering they were in a convertible I think it's very lucky that they weren't hit.

'My paramedic Rob was also amazing, he really looked after me.'

Suffolk Police are appealing for eye-witnesses to the crash to contact them.