A MAN suffered chest injuries in a three-car collision at a Bridport accident blackspot.

The 66-year-old was treated at the scene yesterday afternoon but his injuries were not thought to be life- threatening.

The accident happened on the A35 at Miles Cross, just west of Bridport, at around 1pm.

The junction at Symondsbury has been a cause for major safety concerns in recent years, and earlier this month a meeting was held involving organisations and councils to discuss traffic improvements at the site.

A Dorset Police spokesman said: “We received a call at 12.58pm reporting a three vehicle road traffic collision.

“The ambulance service and Dorset Fire and Rescue Service also attended.

“All three drivers were conscious and breathing with no-one reported trapped.”

The cars involved were a Volvo registered to a Southampton man, an Audi registered to a Bridport man and a Peugeot, registered to the injured man, who was also from Bridport.

The junction has had a history of fatal and serious collisions since the A35 ring road skirting Bridport was opened 25 years ago.

Since 2003, there have been more than one fatality, five serious and eight slight injury accidents at the site. At a public meeting in January to discuss the junction, Andy Roberts from the Highways Agency, said that safety was continually monitored but the statistics did not make it a ‘cluster site’.

Bridport town councillors have already demanded that a roundabout should be installed, but plans to site a new traffic light junction half a mile along the road for the proposed waste management centre at Broomhills and the possibility of a 750-plus home development at nearby Vearse Farm have reignited the debate over the best solution.

Clerk to Symondsbury parish council David Wragg, who urged the authorities for ‘joined-up thinking’, said he was sorry to hear of yesterday’s accident.

He added: “I am sorry to hear the news that the accident has taken place and I am glad there are no fatalities. But it serves to emphasise the situation. There is a problem at Miles Cross.

“The other aspect is that in this day and age we do not have the money readily available.

“The Highways Agency will be desperately trying to bring together some sort of financial package but it is doubtful whether they can afford it.

“We need to piece up the three aspects, which are Miles Cross, Broomhills and Vearse Farm and use the collective funding for road works to achieve a single aim.”

He said that another meeting, by invitation only, is soon to be held about the junction with representatives from West Dorset District Council, Dorset County Council and the Highways Agency.