Roads chaos

A SERIES of accidents caused traffic gridlock in parts of Suffolk today after another night of tragedy on the region's roads.

A motorist had to be freed from his overturned car following a crash on the Stowmarket-bound A14, near Claydon, at about 5.50am. He was taken to Ipswich Hospital but his injuries were not serious.

The same stretch road was also blocked following a crash on the Claydon-bound carriageway near to the Copdock Interchage at 7am. One woman suffered a leg injury and the road was clear by 8.25am.

A lorry also collided with the central reservation of the Ipswich-bound A14, near Stowmarket, at about 8am, leaving the road partially blocked for a short time.

The succession of crashes followed the death of man in a two-vehicle smash on the A134 at Chilton, near Sudbury, at 11pm yesterday.

The man, aged about 30, was killed after his car was involved in a crash with a lorry.

The accident takes the death toll on the county's roads this year to 41.

Meanwhile, police have named two more victims of separate road crashes that happened just a few miles apart on the same day.

Stella Alchin, 82, of Rectory Road, Whepstead, near Bury St Edmunds, died after the car she was driving was involved in a head-on collision on Thursday afternoon.

The driver of the other vehicle, a 56-year-old Suffolk woman, was also taken to hospital but was later released.

Mrs Alchin was taken to the West Suffolk Hospital in Bury after the crash, which happened in Whepstead Road, just two miles from her home, but she later died.

Five hours later 17-year-old Michael Griggs, of Lynnsward Close, Great Waldingfield, died instantly when his car was involved in a collision with two other vehicles between Alpheton and Bridge Street, near Long Melford.

The inquest into his death was opened and adjourned yesterday.