Members of a Norwich church have had a lucky escape after the coach they were travelling in crashed with a lorry in Cambridgeshire.

Between 40 and 50 members of the King's Community Church, based in King Street, were on board the coach on their way to a conference in North Wales.

The accident happened on the A14 at Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire, near the Spittals Interchange, at 9am today.

No one was hurt in the crash and another coach arrived to take the group on to Prestatyn in North Wales.

The people on board were university and arts college students and professionals from the Norwich area. They are all believed to be in their late teens and 20s.

One of the teenagers on the coach, Claire Jones, 17, from Thorpe St Andrew, texted her mother Lynn Jones, conference manager at the King Street church, just after 9am and said: 'Coach has crashed, but we are all OK.'

Mrs Jones said 'She texted me right after it happened. She was sitting near the back of the coach and was not injured. We are all relieved that no one was injured.'

Church leader Toby Skipper said: 'We understand that the coach went in to the back of a lorry on the A14. I don't know what speed it was travelling at. No one was hurt.

'Forty to 50 people from the church were on the coach on their way to Prestatyn in North Wales for a students' and twenties' conference. The 3-day course will be attended by thousands of students and is called Mobilise. The front of the bus was taken out but another coach came to pick them up to take them on to North Wales.'

They had boarded the coach in Mountergate, off King Street, at about 6.30am today, and are due back in Norwich on Friday.

The driver of the coach had to be cut free as he was trapped by his steering wheel and one westbound lane of the A14 was closed for almost three hours as a result of the accident.

The lorry driver suffered minor neck and back pain in the collision and the Magpas Helimedix team arrived in its BMW rapid response car to tend to the casualties, while an East of England Ambulance Service Trust ambulance crew was also on the scene.

The coach driver was not injured and was discharged at the scene.

King's Community Church began meeting at Sprowston High School in 1987. Since then it has moved to St Andrews Hall, and then onto the King's Centre in King Street.

The church now meets in two locations every Sunday: city centre at the King's Centre in King Street and Mile Cross at the Norman Centre, and about 500 people regularly attend the two sites.

The church is made up of people of all ages, colours, and races from a wide range of backgrounds, and is involved in the community in many different ways. King's Community Church is part of Newfrontiers, a family of churches started around 40 years ago.

- Do you know any of the students involved? Contact reporter Kim Briscoe on 01603 772419 or kim.briscoe@archant.co.uk