18th January 2012

BRIDPORT: A35 crash causes traffic chaos

By Paul Crompton

TWO motorists narrowly avoided serious injury when their cars smashed together.

A man was cut from his vehicle by emergency services after the collision at Quarr Lane, on the A35 between Bridport and Chideock.

He was taken to Dorset County Hospital suffering with whiplash. The female driver of the other vehicle was also taken to DCH suffering with whiplash.

The crash involved a red Renault Clio car registered to an Axminster woman and a silver Honda Accord car registered to a woman in Cornwall at around 5pm.

Tailbacks a mile long snaked from the brow of the hill on West Road to the top of Chideock Hill for two hours following the incident.

Witnesses claimed the back roads surrounding Chideock were also in chaos as up to 100 cars were caught in jams as they desperately tried to avoid the A35 hold up.

Dorset Fire and Rescue Service (DFRS) rushed to the accident scene at 5:20pm after being called by ambulance crews.

A DFRS spokesman said: “We were called by the ambulance service to Quarr Lane. We sent along two crews from Bridport and we also sent an officer.

“We removed the roof of one vehicle using hydraulic cutting equipment and assisted the ambulance service in removing the casualty from the vehicle. We removed one man from the car.”

A Dorset Police spokesman said they were investigating the circumstances surrounding the crash on Wednesday, January 11th.

A police spokesman said: “We were called at 4:59pm to the scene. Both drivers were taken to Dorset County Hospital with whiplash injuries.”

The roads around Bridport, Chideock and Ryall came to a standstill as motorists tried to avoid the main road traffic jam.

Builder Gary Stork directed traffic after sitting in his van on a gridlocked back road between Shaves Cross and Whitchurch Canonicorum.

The 50-year-old Charmouth resident said: “I was stuck for about an hour in the jam before I decided to do something about it because it was getting worse and worse. I just thought how can we get out of the situation.

“So I decided to take the mile and a half walk from where I was to re-direct the traffic. I reckon there was a back up of about 100 cars both way.” He added: “I’m just glad everyone got out okay.”

Motorist Matt Robinson was caught in the traffic jams for around two hours.

Speaking on the night he said: “I left work at 5 o’clock in Lyme. Then basically I hit Chideock. I came over the hill and there was traffic backed up. I know the back roads because I’ve gone through them before when there’s lots of traffic but it was nothing like this.”

Bridport Police’s PC Scott McGregor said: “It has always been the case when there has been an accident on the A35 there’s an impact on the side roads because people, by their nature, take alternative routes.”

BRIDPORT: A35 crash causes traffic chaos

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