BY IAN CROUCH

Hunter Valley police are searching for a man who fled the scene of a bad crash early Friday morning.

Emergency services were called the New England Highway three kilometres north of Parkville just after 2.00am where a green Holden Commodore sedan had run off the road and slammed into a power pole at high speed.

The force the collision snapped the pole and caused extensive damage to the car.

Somehow the male driver survived, with a witness telling police he ran off before they could arrive.