THREE PEOPLE have been taken to hospital with serious injuries, after two road accidents in the Ross area. The collisions occurred within two days of each other.

In the first incident, at around 1pm on Saturday, July 10th, a ten-year-old boy and a motorcyclist were hurt when a car and a motorbike collided at speed in Ross-on-Wye, at the junction of Old Maids Walk and Walford Road.

The rider of the BMW motorbike, a 26-year-old man from Bristol, sustained light injuries; but the boy, who had been sitting in the front passenger seat of the car, a Volkswagen Polo, received a leg injury that West Midlands Ambulance Service has described as serious, but not life-threatening.

A resident of one of the nearby houses told the Ross Gazette's reporter that he had heard a bang, and shortly afterwards looked out of his window to see firemen carrying loose soil from his garden, which they used to soak up oil that had leaked from one of the vehicles.

The boy and the man were both taken to Hereford County Hospital, and Copse Cross Street was closed for around one hour while the emergency services dealt with the incident.

The second and more serious crash happened shortly after 10am on Monday, July 12th, on the B4221 between Gorsley Goffs Primary School and Junction 3 of the M50.

The two cars involved were a Toyota Avensis and a Renault Mégane. The impact was sufficiently heavy to spin the Toyota through 180 degrees and send the Renault into a ditch.

The driver of the Renault, a woman in her 60s, was trapped in her car with a serious leg wound that was bleeding profusely. Two fire crews from Ross worked with police and paramedics to free her, cutting away the car's roof and side in an operation that took half an hour.

The Midlands Air Ambulance was scrambled from its base in Strensham, near Worcester, and the woman was airlifted to Bristol's Frenchay Hospital. Police officers on the scene told the Gazette that the helicopter had landed in a field adjacent to the school.

The male driver of the Toyota was treated at the scene.

The accident caused extensive tailbacks on the B4221 for several hours.