A CARAVAN crash that saw the A31 closed for seven hours has been investigated following complaints over the conduct of Hampshire Constabulary and Highways England.

The authorities came under fire after closing the westbound carriageway of the A31 when the caravan overturned and “completely disintegrated” on August 23.

Despite no injuries having been reported during the incident, at 2pm, officers did not reopen the road until 9pm causing significant delays across the New Forest. Attempts to recover the caravan saw it demolished and requiring specialist cleaning equipment which was not requested for some time, the investigation showed.

In a letter addressed to Hampshire County Councillor David Harrison, the police’s professional standards investigator Nick Harris said “lessons have been learned” as a result of the incident.

“It would seem that a very large caravan that had overturned was effectively destroyed in attempts to recover it,” he wrote. “Thereafter, the only possible recovery was the total destruction of the body and sweeping it up with a specialised vehicle. Getting the additional equipment to sweep up the pieces is what caused the delays.

“It is clear that the roads policing inspector was not informed of the nature of this incident for some hours after it had happened. This led to a lack of close communications between Hampshire Constabulary and Highways England regarding diversion routes.

“I am pleased to be able to tell you that lessons have been learned as a result of this incident. Guidance has been sent out to all roads policing officers in Hampshire Constabulary which includes advice on calling the appropriate incident recovery manager who can arrange for the correct recovery vehicle at an early stage which should prevent what happened on August 23.”

Cllr Harrison said: “I think I was right to complain to the police about the seven hour wait that motorists had to endure. Thousands of people were stuck in long traffic queues in the height of summer for the want of a road clean-up following an incident that saw a caravan disintegrate.

“The police have been honest enough to admit that the roads policing inspector wasn’t informed about the incident until several hours after the event. Hours were wasted before the necessary resources were deployed.”

A police spokesperson said: “On this occasion we accept that things could have been handled differently and we apologise for that, but as with all serious incidents, we have worked with the our partner agencies since this incident to ensure we learn from this.”