Police in Newport have appealed for witnesses crash which left the A41 completely closed for three hours yesterday.

Officers from Newport and Donnington Safer Neighbourhood Teams, along with three ambulances and an Ambulance Officer rushed to the scene just before 2pm after emergency calls from members of the public.

The road was closed between the two A518 roundabout junctions, known locally as the Aldi and Mere Park islands.

The 19 year-old female driver of one vehicle involved was treated at the scene by paramedics, and two young children, aged 8 and 9 years old who were passengers in the other vehicle, were taken to the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital by ambulance as a precautionary measure.

PC Lee Thomas from the Newport police team said: “We spoke with several witnesses who stopped at the scene to assist those directly involved in the incident prior to emergency services arriving and I would like to thank them for helping to calm everyone involved down, especially the children who were understandably very upset about what had happened.

“I would appeal to anyone who witnessed the collision and who wasn’t spoken to by officers to contact myself via the 101 number quoting reference 438S of June 26th.”

He added: “The road had to be kept closed whilst emergency crews and Highways teams dealt with the casualties and worked to clear the vehicles involved, debris, fuel and oil and inspect the carriageway to ensure there was no damage.

“We were able to open one side of the road by 5.00pm and allow traffic to pass slowly by in one direction at a time until the carriageway was completely cleared.

“I would like to thank motorists for their patience and cooperation during this incident as we are fully aware how busy a road the A41 is and that the majority of drivers will not be local and so will not have been familiar with diversion routes.”

The road was fully open in both directions at approximately 6.00pm