TWO crashes within hours of each other brought Dunmow to a grinding halt on Monday. At around 10am an 18-tonne lorry was in collision with a highways agency vehicle and careered into the central reservation on the east-bound A120 near to the rest areas. A

TWO crashes within hours of each other brought Dunmow to a grinding halt on Monday. At around 10am an 18-tonne lorry was in collision with a highways agency vehicle and careered into the central reservation on the east-bound A120 near to the rest areas.

As a result drivers were diverted via the B1256 to the east Dunmow interchange causing significant tailbacks around the town. Eyewitnesses reported tailbacks of up to an hour, stretching back to Stansted airport. Police also closed off the west Dunmow A120 joining slip road to relieve traffic. The driver of the highways agency vehicle was taken away to Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford with whiplash injuries. The HGV driver was uninjured in the accident and the dual carriageway was fully re-opened at noon.

Three hours later another crash at Church End resulted in two people being taken to Broomfield Hospital after being cut free from their car by Dunmow firefighters. The two received minor injuries when, at 3pm, their blue metro was in collision with a red Subaru Legacy estate on the newly resurfaced Church End bridge.