EMERGENCY services were called after two vehicles crashed and damaged a gas main between Ardleigh and Lawford.

Three people were injured in a road traffic collision in Harwich Road, near to the junction of Bargate Lane, shortly after 2.15pm on Tuesday.

Cadent Gas and Essex County Fire and Service were called to the scene with reports of a gas leak which was caused after a gas main was fractured following the crash.

A Cadent Gas spokesman said an engineer was called onsite to fix the damaged pipe which is connected to a gas main and supplies homes.

An Essex Fire Service spokesman said on twitter: "Two cars have crashed and damaged a gas main so we have closed the road for everyone's safety."

An East of England Ambulance Service spokesman said a woman was reported to have sustained a leg injury, a man had cuts to his hands and another woman was taken to taken to Colchester General Hospital as a precaution.

Katie Smart, of Harwich Road, said she was called by a family member to tell her the road was closed with ambulances going past.

She said: "I didn’t see what happened, but I know it was a two-car road traffic accident. One car had gone through a garden and hit a gas main."

The road was closed for almost three hours, heading into the evening rush hour, before Essex Police said it was reopened.