According to a NSW Fire and Rescue spokesman the drama had all the ingredients to be ‘much much worse’.

The twin tanker owned by Orange-based Ron Finemores Transport was heading west about 1.20 am  and was on a short straight section of three lane highway between Katoomba and Medlow Bath when the accident occurred.

The giant rig veered onto the road shoulder and overturned down an embankment, coming to rest with the prime mover and both tankers upside down.

An ambulance spokesman said the driver was able to free himself from his wrecked cabin and clambered back to the roadway where one of the first on the scene was an off duty paramedic.

He was later taken to Katoomba Hospital and was reported to have amazingly escaped with nothing more than apparently minor facial injuries.

The driver was subsequently identified as a 34 year old man from Millthorpe.

Inspector Tom Clarkstone, from NSW Fire and Rescue said it was bad situation where things had gone right for once.

He said that not only had the driver had an amazing escape but the tankers did not rupture despite rolling against steel fence posts.

And there was more.

The rig uprooted a power pole when it left the road and while live high voltage power lines remained dangling perilously close to the tankers there was no contact.

Had this occurred the entire rig would have been ‘live’ posing an additional risk to the driver and rescuers and increasing the likelihood of fire.

“This was a bad situation that could have been much much worse,” Inspector Clarkstone said.

Fire and RTA crews remained on the scene until the last of the fuel was pumped into another tanker around 4 pm.

The salvage operation was completed about two hours later.

One lane of the three lane section of highway was closed all day Sunday and there were further disruptions while the rig was salvaged.