A woman was airlifted to hospital with serious injuries after a five-car crash on a notorious stretch of road.

Fire crews worked for an hour using heavy-duty cutting equipment to free the trapped driver after her car ended up on its side on the A133.

The impact of the crash was so severe it forced the car to fling in to the opposite side of the carriageway.

Paramedics treated the injured woman at the scene before loading her in to the waiting air ambulance which had landed a nearby garden.

The road was closed in both directions while police crash investigators surveyed the aftermath of the crash, which happened on the Colchester-bound bound stretch at Clingoe Hill at about 9.20am yesterday.

The road is already subject to highways safety reviews after students at the University of Essex launched a campaign after two of their friends died trying to cross the road.

  • Anyone with information is asked to contact Stanway road policing unit on 01206 762512.