The A303 near Andover in Hampshire was shut down in both directions on Tuesday afternoon after a multi-vehicle collision sent five people to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Hampshire Constabulary confirmed the crash involved a lorry, a car, and a van around one mile west of the Andover turnoff, near the village of Upper Clatford. Police and South Western Ambulance Service crews worked under heavy rain to stabilise casualties before transporting them to Andover War Memorial Hospital.
Motorists were diverted via the A34 and B3420, creating gridlock on rural routes unused to such volumes. Highways England described the closure as "unpredicted and necessary" while engineers assess structural damage to the road surface.
Key Points
- ⚠️ Three vehicles involved: lorry, car, van
- 🚑 Five injured, none with life-threatening conditions
- 🛣️ A303 closed in both directions near Upper Clatford
Witnesses described seeing the lorry jackknife before the pile-up, with the van crushed between the truck and a stationary car. Hampshire Fire and Rescue dispatched two appliances and a rescue unit to cut a trapped driver from the van’s mangled cabin.
| Emergency Service | Response Time (minutes) | Units Deployed |
|---|---|---|
| Hampshire Constabulary | 6 | 4 patrol cars |
| South Western Ambulance | 8 | 2 ambulances, 1 air ambulance |
| Hampshire Fire and Rescue | 11 | 2 appliances, 1 rescue unit |
The driver of the lorry, a 42-year-old man from Salisbury, was among the injured and has been taken into custody for questioning over possible careless driving. Police have appealed for dashcam footage from motorists who passed the scene in the minutes before impact.
📋 By The Numbers
- 5 — Number of hospitalisations
- £1.3m — Estimated cost of traffic delays to local businesses
- 3 — Hours since closure at 16:30
Highways England confirmed the A303 would remain closed overnight, with a full forensic investigation underway. The closure is expected to last until at least 06:00 on Wednesday, barring further discoveries.
Local MP Kit Malthouse criticised the lack of alternate routes for such a critical artery, calling the incident "a failure of infrastructure planning." Hampshire County Council has pledged to review diversion signage in the area.
💡 Pro Tip
If caught in a similar closure, use the B3048 to link the A34 to the A30, adding just 12 minutes to most journeys—but check Google Maps for live traffic as speed cameras are active on this route.
Traffic data from INRIX shows the incident has already caused a 40% increase in delays on the A34, with average speeds dropping to 25mph. The council has activated its emergency traffic plan, prioritising gritters for potential ice overnight.
- 15:12 — First police unit arrives
- 15:23 — Lorry driver detained
- 15:45 — Air ambulance departs with critical patient
The crash comes amid warnings from road safety charity Brake about the dangers of the A303’s single-carriageway sections. The charity has renewed calls for the government to accelerate the £2.4bn Stonehenge tunnel project, citing the corridor’s history of fatal collisions.
- 📊 The A303 handles 30,000 vehicles daily, 15% of which are HGVs
- 🔍 Fatigue and distraction are the top two cited causes in 68% of A303 incidents
- ⚠️ The road’s rolling hills create blind spots every 200 metres
As recovery teams work through the night, the broader question lingers: when will the UK’s most notorious traffic bottleneck get the upgrade it has waited decades for?