TWO people were taken to hospital following a four-vehicle crash which caused 'horrendous' delays to traffic on routes through west Dorset.

Police, firefighters and paramedics raced to a four-vehicle crash on the A35 Dorchester Road, around the Askerswell turn off near Bridport, at 11.20am yesterday.

Two people were taken to hospital however the extent of their injuries was not known.

A road closure was put in place as a result of the crash causing heavy traffic to build in the surrounding area.

Drivers were urged to allow for extra time to their journeys with delays of up to 40 mins and approximately seven miles of congestion.

One driver said: "There were horrendous queues on the coast road as people were sent off the A35 to divert around the crash.

"The queue I saw in Burton Bradstock stretched from the Anchor pub right up to the entrance to Freshwater Holiday Park. It only seemed to affect traffic heading from Bridport to Weymouth; I imagine a lot of it was holiday traffic heading to the beaches.

"The situation was also bad in Abbotsbury where there has been some resurfacing work. Drivers were trying to negotiate their way around all the road signs and big queues were building up."

A spokesman for Dorset Police said: "We received a report at 11.20am of a collision on the A35 near Askerswell in west Dorset.

"Officers have attended along with fire and ambulance services."

A spokesperson for the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) said: “We were called at 11.20am to a road traffic collision near Bridport.

"We sent an operations officer and three double-crewed land ambulances. We conveyed two patients to Dorset County Hospital."

A spokesman for Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service said: "We were called at 11.25am to a four vehicle collision on Dorchester Road near Bridport.

"Two crews attended, from Bridport and Dorchester; no-one was trapped so firefighters made the scene safe and helped look after the people from the cars."