A woman has been taken to hospital after being cut free from a crashed car on the A1 during rush hour.
A two-vehicle collision involving a car and a van occurred at around 8am on Thursday morning on the northbound carriageway of the A1(M) between Junction 63 at Chester-Le-Street and Junction 64 at Washington.
At one point, there was congestion tailing back for four miles as the carriageway was down to just one lane. However, at the time of writing, all lanes have been reopened.
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Emergency services attended and a female driver who was trapped was rescued and taken to hospital, though her injuries are not thought to be life threatening.
A statement issued by National Highways this morning read: "A collision between two vehicles took place just before 8.30 this morning, which caused two Northbound lanes of the A1 to be closed between junctions 63 and 64. The vehicles have been recovered and the lanes have been reopened, although drivers are advised there may be some residual delays for a short while."
A Northumbria Police spokesperson said: "Shortly after 8am today, we received a report of a two-vehicle collision on the A1 northbound at Junction 64. Emergency services attended and a female driver has been taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries."
A Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue spokesperson said: "We received a call this morning around 8:45am about a two vehicle crash on the A1 Northbound near Washington Services. Two appliances, one from Washington and one from Birtley, were on the scene in a matter of minutes to begin rescuing a person trapped in their vehicle.
"Once free, the trapped individual was left in the care of the North East Ambulance Service. Our crews left the scene at 9:24am."
A spokesperson for the North East Ambulance Service said: "We were called at 8.12am to a road traffic collision on the A1M Northbound, near Washington Services. We dispatched one emergency ambulance and one patient was taken to the Royal Victoria Infirmary."
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