By Craig RobinsonPOLICE have appealed for witnesses after eight people were injured in a spate of road accidents.A teenage boy was seriously injured and three other people hurt in a crash in Church Street, Tolleshunt D'Arcy, when a maroon Vauxhall Cavalier collided with a brick wall at about 6.

By Craig Robinson

POLICE have appealed for witnesses after eight people were injured in a spate of road accidents.

A teenage boy was seriously injured and three other people hurt in a crash in Church Street, Tolleshunt D'Arcy, when a maroon Vauxhall Cavalier collided with a brick wall at about 6.15pm on Thursday.

Firefighters had to free the driver of the car and three passengers from the wrecked vehicle and they were all taken to Colchester General Hospital for treatment.

The driver, a 35-year-old woman from Chelmsford, suffered lacerations to her face, while a 15-year-old male passenger, sustained serious head injuries and detained kept in hospital.

The two other passengers - a 13-year-old girl, who suffered chest, shoulder and abdominal wounds, and a nine-year-old boy, treated for seatbelt injuries - were allowed home after check-ups.

Alan Whitehead, senior operations manager for Essex Ambulance Service, said: "This could have been far more serious. There is no doubt that the seatbelts saved the occupants from far more serious injuries."

Meanwhile, an 11-year-old boy from Clacton was left with a broken leg after he was in collision with a black Vauxhall Zafira while on his way home from school.

The accident happened on a zebra crossing near the railway bridge in Valley Road, Clacton, at about 3.30pm on Thursday.

An ambulance, which was returning to Clacton, spotted the incident and treated the boy - a pupil at Clacton County High School - before taking him to Colchester General Hospital.

Pc Rob Sharman, of Stanway traffic police, said: "The boy broke his lower right leg, but nothing more serious - he's just got a few bumps and bruises."

The woman driver, 53, also from Clacton, was badly shaken by the incident and taken to Clacton Hospital for a check-up, but she is not thought to have suffered any injuries.

In a third accident, a teenager was taken to hospital suffering from a fractured femur and pelvis after a Ford Escort was in collision with a van at the junction of Slough Lane and MarlpitsRoad in Woodham Mortimer at about 6.10pm on Thursday.

The 21-year-old car driver was only slightly injured, but one of the three passengers, an 18-year-old woman, needed treatment at Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford.

Anyone with information should contact Chelmsford traffic police on 01245 452918 for the Tolleshunt D'Arcy and Woodham Mortimer crashes and Stanway traffic police on 01206 762512 for the Clacton accident.