Woman taken to hospital following accident which closed Bedford High Street

Emergency services were called to the incident at 2.15pm following reports a car had hit a raised manhole cover.

The incident caused gridlock in the town centre with the High Street and St Paul’s Square closed to traffic for several hours.

A Police spokesman said: “We responded to a call following reports that a car had hit raised ironwork in the road outside Wilkinson’s. It was quite serious with the driver, who was in her 40s, requiring hospital treatment. The impact caused quite a bit of damage to her car and the airbags were deployed. Her condition was later described as OK.

“We’re not aware of any roadworks in the area however Highways England were called in to make the area safe while our investigations are ongoing.”

She confirmed the road was re-opend at around 5pm.

Beds Fire & Rescue had tweeted: “we are currently in attendance at an incident on #Bedford High street. This is an RTC involving 1 vehicle and our crews from #Bedford and #Kempston are in attendance with our Specialist Rescue Unit from Kempston assisting our colleagues @Bedspolice & @EastEnglandAmb.