One man was seriously injured yesterday morning when an out-of-control HGV ploughed into five cars on the Avenida Manuel Hermoso Rojas in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Five others were less seriously hurt.

The driver, a 32 year old Guinean man now resident in Soria, has been provisionally charged with dangerous driving, but was not arrested.

It seems that, as a result of not being familiar with the local road system, the driver missed the exit off the TF-5 Northern Motorway for the Costa Sur industrial estate, which is the only permitted access to Santa Cruz port for heavy goods vehicles.

The exact causes of the accident have not been confirmed, but investigators report that the lorry's brake pads were extremely hot immediately after the accident and tacograph analysis will reveal whether the maximum speed limit was being exceeded.

The most seriously injured victim, a 35 year old Bolivian man, is being treated at the Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria University Hospital.