PART of the dual-carriageway leading into Bournemouth town centre was closed for six hours causing traffic chaos following an early-morning crash.

Dorset Police were called at 3.29am and shut the A338 Wessex Way between Springbourne Roundabout and St Paul’s Roundabout.

A silver Mazda had hit a barrier, causing a lamp post to land on the road.

A police spokesperson said that nobody had been trapped in the vehicle.

A South Western Ambulance Service spokesperson said that a man was taken to Poole Hospital with chest injuries.

Stuart Best, street services manager for Bournemouth Council, said: “A team attended the scene to assist with a police-led road closure and to make the area safe. When the police gave permission, the lamp post was removed and the road was re-opened at 9.25am.”

Motorists heading to work and taking children to school following the summer holidays queued back past Blackwater Junction.

Vehicles then diverted through Charminster and Winton as well as Holdenhurst Road through Springbourne.

Web user, Bosco1, posted on Daily Echo’s website during the ongoing road closure: “It was at 3.30am in the morning, now it is 7.30am and the road is still closed. I appreciate police forensics will need to make reports but why close a road for so long? I would have thought that the investigation would have been completed by now.”

Asked why the road was closed for six hours, a Dorset Police spokesperson said: “Due to the seriousness of the injuries, police were required to close the road so that the ambulance service could treat the man and take him to hospital and for collision investigators to examine the scene.

“The local authority was also required due to the lamp post being badly damaged. We appreciate the closure may have caused delays, however the primary focus is to ensure the casualty is treated, the incident is fully investigated and that the road is made safe for all users.”

An SSE spokesperson said that they were called at 4.05am and an engineer attended at 5.25am to assess the situation and make the area safe. A second engineer then attended after 11am to carry out the necessary repairs.

Clear-up operation: a timeline 

DORSET Police provided a timeline of the six-hour Wessex Way closure.
Police and ambulance were called at 03.29am.

SSE and the council were then requested due to the lamp post damage and the resulting electrical issues.

The local authorities requested a contractor to attend from Portsmouth, who arrived on the scene at 6.22am.

After the work was carried out to make the scene safe by SSE and the local authority, the police’s investigation work began at 6.47am. This lasted around 40 minutes.

Recovery for the vehicle was then requested at 7.30am and it arrived at 8.30am. It took around 40 minutes to pull the car from the fencing and onto the recovery vehicle.

Final work was carried out to ensure the road was cleared before it was re-opened by police at 9.25am.