A woman was taken to hospital with serious injuries after a three-vehicle crash that closed the A10 near Buntingford for seven hours.

The accident occured on Sunday at just after 7pm near the Westmill turning, and involved a trio of vehicles, including a BMW and a Suzuki.

Two people had to be cut free from the wreckage, and one of these, a woman was taken by ambulance to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge with serious injuries. The other, a man, was taken to the Lister Hospital in Stevenage with non life-threatening injuries.

Members of all three emergency services attended the accident scene, including the East Anglian air ambulance and fire crews from Buntingford and Royston.

The East of England Ambulance Service sent two ambulances, a rapid response car and one of its two hazardous area response teams (HART) to the scene as well as the emergency helicopter.

Gary Sanderson, EEAST’s silver commander for Hertfordshire, who attended the incident, said: “This was a protracted incident for our crews, HART team and Helimed crew to deal with.

“They all worked extremely hard to treat, stabilise and immobilise the two casualties before they were taken to hospital for further care.”

The A10 was close between the roundabout at the former Sainsbury’s depot in Buntingford and the junction with the B1368 at Puckeridge.