A140 crane truck crash: 'Why was stretch of A road closed for 32 hours?'

Police were called at about 14:30 GMT on Monday to the A140, which is mostly single carriageway in Suffolk

Answers were needed about why part of an A-road was closed for almost 32 hours after a crane truck overturned, a councillor said.

The vehicle crashed on the A140 in Suffolk at 14:30 GMT on Monday. Two people suffered "very minor" injuries.

A road closure near to the junction with the A1120 at Earl Stonham was in place until 22:00 on Tuesday.

Suffolk County Council said recovery of the vehicle and repairs had to take place before the road could reopen.

Damage had been caused to the road and footpath

Green Party county councillor Andrew Stringer, whose ward straddles the A140, which is the main road between Ipswich and Norwich, said: "We need to know why it took so long for the vehicle to be removed."

He said lorries and cars were rat-running through small villages after the closure.

• Lorry and van involved in 'serious' crash on A140

• Woman died 'after A140 village pub party'

• Plans to stop costly bridge closures revealed

"We get numerous accidents on this road and we often get road closures, and often when these road closures happen, we have a protocol with the police about diversions and this doesn't seem to have happened this time," he said.

He said official diversions needed to be put in place to "make sure that people are not rat-running through some of our smaller villages and causing chaos".

Two garden walls were damaged in the crash

Suffolk County Council said although no-one was seriously injured, the road and footway had to be repaired and hazardous oils from the vehicle had to be cleared before the road could be reopened.

A spokeswoman added: "Whilst an official diversion route will have been put in place, we must divert vehicles onto the same or higher class of road.

"We are unable to control road users using their local knowledge to divert away from the official route."

The truck damaged two garden walls, a telegraph pole and a tree when it overturned.

Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email [e-mail]