A parish councillor has raised concerns about a busy Essex road after a second serious crash in three days saw a man cut free from his overturned car.

Concerns have been raised over the safety of Harwich Road which runs between Little Bentley and Elmstead Market in Essex after the two crashes, which left an 18-year-old man in a life threatening in condition and another trapped inside his car.

The first of the collisions happened near Great Bromley in the early hours of Sunday morning after a red Peugeot 207 convertible had left the road near the village.

Emergency services were called to the scene shortly before 1.35am on May 19 to discover that an 18-year-old had suffered life-threatening injuries.

Officers say he was taken to hospital where he remains in a serious condition.

A passenger in the car, an 18-year-old man from Colchester, has been arrested on suspicion of taking a motor vehicle without the owner's consent.

The second crash took place shortly after 9.15am, May 21 after a car overturned on the road.

Two fire crews were sent to the scene where they worked to free the driver.

A man was released from the vehicle at around 9.45am and was later taken to hospital but there is no news on the condition of the driver.

Work is taking place to try and improve the safety of the road.

A 50mph speed limit was put in place along the road several years ago and the local community have been campaigning for more than 10 years to make the road safer.

A roundabout has been built over the past year and a half at the junction between the A120 and the Harwich Road, a location Little Bentley Parish Council chairman Nigel Dyson described as a former 'death spot'.

He said: "The road is most dangerous at the crossovers with the A120. There is a new roundabout that is due to be opened soon which will help the problem.

"It used to be a death spot. There used to be deaths there all the time but it has been better recently.

"We got a 50mph speed limit put in place and a lot of the deaths stopped but there are still quite a few crashes along the road.

"I am not really surprised to hear there has been accidents on the Harwich road.

"It is just an accident waiting to happen."