A serious crash on the A120 has led to renewed calls for safety improvements to the road.

A woman was airlifted to the Royal London Hospital with serious injuries after the collision near to the Kings Arms pub at Little Tey yesterday morning.

It was initially thought she had life-threatening injuries and she had to be freed after being left trapped in the crash.

Emergency services were called to the scene shortly after 7.30am to a crash which involved a Scania skip lorry, a Volkswagen Golf and a Volvo lorry.

Both the Essex County Fire and Rescue Service’s urban search & rescue team and the East of England Ambulance Service’s hazardous area response team were sent to the crash site.

The road was closed for several hours while Essex Police investigated the scene.

A 51-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

He was taken to Colchester police station for questioning.

Yesterday’s incident comes just days ahead of a public meeting on the future of the A120 being hosted by the area’s MPs.

Witham MP Priti Patel, Colchester MP Sir Bob Russell and Harwich and North Essex MP Bernard Jenkin are all jointly chairing Friday’s summit, organised by the Haven Gateway Partnership as part of its A120 campaign in collaboration with Essex County Council.

The Haven Gateway is trying to keep political pressure on Whitehall to include the A120 among its long-term road projects to unlock up to £1.3billion of growth.

In the short term it has called for £10m to carry out a feasibility study and much-needed safety improvements to the road at the Earls Colne junction and at Pellens Corner, in Tendring.

Steve Clarke, Haven Gateway director leading the A120 campaign, said: “We need to make sure that the voice of the local area is heard in terms of getting the road improved.

“Concerns have been raised for a number of years about the condition of the road and one way for these voices to be heard is the meeting on Friday.”

The event, open to all, takes place on Friday at the Marks Tey Hotel from 12.30pm until 2pm.

In particular the organisers are keen to hear from businesses about the impact the A120 has on them.