Police hunt driver who crashed into barriers on closed A421 causing "considerable damage" to equipment clearing flood waters

Five passengers suffered minor injuries after the crash – but fortunately no one working on the road was injured.

Bedfordshire Police were called to the collision on the westbound A421 at around 11pm last night.

A spokesman said: "A blue Skoda Kamiq collided with the barriers blocking off the slip road at Marsh Leas roundabout endangering the personnel working on the site. The incident caused a considerable amount of damage to equipment currently being used to clear the flooding."

The driver of the vehicle fled the scene in the direction of the old A421 road. He is described as white, 5ft 9ins, with a beard and was wearing black clothing, including a black puffa jacket.

National Highways say the incident caused minor disruption to the extensive clean-up operation, but normal pumping and tanker operations resumed shortly after. An additional barrier repair will now be required.

A National Highways spokesperson said: “Ignoring the road barriers puts both drivers’ and road workers’ lives at risk. We are appealing to members of the public to continue to support us by staying away from the area so our work to remove the floodwater can continue to progress at pace.

“This section of the A421 remains closed, and details of diversionary routes are available on the National Highways website and social media channels.”

Both carriageways of the A421 have been closed since flooding first occurred on Sunday, September 22 when a month of rainfall fell in under 48 hours.

Efforts to clear the floodwater have been ongoing since, with a fleet of 25 tankers working around the clock to remove water from the carriageway, which is estimated to be around 60 million litres in total.

The police spokesman added: “It is important that people respect the road closure signs and do not do anything that will hamper the recovery process.”

The East of England Ambulance Service told Bedford Today they sent three ambulances, a rapid response vehicle and an ambulance officer vehicle to the scene, and that three people were taken to Bedford Hospital South Wing for further care.

Police have asked anyone with information or dashcam footage of the incident to contact them, either by phoning 101, or report online, quoting the reference 40/54548/24.