AN elderly woman was taken to hospital after an accident involving her car and two lorries closed a north Dorset road this afternoon.

The woman suffered chest and facial injuries in the 12.50pm accident. Dorset Police said these injuries were not life-threatening.

Initially the emergency services thought they were dealing with a chemical spill on the country road, but this later transpired to be engine oil from one of the lorries involved in the smash.

However, Dorset Police were forced to implement a road closure at the scene on the A357, near Holebrook Lane, Sturminster Newton, all afternoon, to enable firefighters to free the woman, officers to complete an investigation then council workers to clear up the oil.

A Dorset Fire & Rescue Service (DFRS) spokesman told the Daily Echo three crews, from Sturminster Newton, Blandford and Sherborne, attended the scene after being called by the ambulance service at 12.55pm.

The DFRS spokesman said: “Initially it was thought there was a chemical spill, but when the crews got there they were able to determine it was engine oil from one of the lorries.”

The crash involved a black Kia Rio owned by a Blandford woman, a DAF truck from the West Midlands and a white Scania truck from Nottingham.

The road remains closed.