A serious crash took place near a primary school in Ipswich in the early hours of this morning, leaving two motorists in hospital.

East Anglian Daily Times: Ranelagh Primary School in Paul's Road, Ipswich, this morning. Police said the crash in London Road took place near the school. Picture: ARCHANTRanelagh Primary School in Paul's Road, Ipswich, this morning. Police said the crash in London Road took place near the school. Picture: ARCHANT (Image: Archant)

A Honda Civic was involved in a single-vehicle crash in London Road, near Ranelagh Primary School, at around 1.15am. The car mounted a kerb and collided with a fence.

The driver, a 26-year-old man, sustained a fractured skull, and a passenger, believed to be a man also in his 20s, sustained a broken leg. Firefighters freed them from the overturned car and they were taken to hospital with serious injuries.

Both motorists are from the Ipswich area, police earlier confirmed.

Police are now appealing for any witnesses who may have seen a silver Audi being followed by the Honda Civic from Cardinal Park to London Road at about 1am, shortly before the crash.

East Anglian Daily Times: London Road in Ipswich this morning. Picture: ARCHANTLondon Road in Ipswich this morning. Picture: ARCHANT (Image: Archant)

The school is open as normal. A spokesman for the school said: “The school has been made secure.”

• Police are not currently linking the incident to an alleged stabbing nearby in Dickens Road last night.

Firefighters, the ambulance service, and a volunteer critical care paramedic (CCP) from the Suffolk Accident Rescue Service (SARS), an emergency medical charity, were called to the scene.

The SARS spokesman said: “Two male patients in their 20s were assessed at the scene. One patient was treated by the SARS CCP for serious head injuries and taken to Ipswich Hospital.”

Their injuries have been described as serious but not life-threatening by police.

A section of London Road near the school was closed for almost five hours by police to allow for investigation work and for the car to be recovered. It reopened shortly after 6am.

In an update, police said this afternoon: “A silver Honda Civic was travelling from Hadleigh Road along London Road when the vehicle mounted a kerb and collided with a fence.

“The driver of the car, a 26-year-old male, sustained a fractured skull, while his male passenger sustained a broken leg.

“Police are appealing for any witnesses who may have seen a silver Audi being followed by the Honda Civic from Cardinal Park to London Road at about 1am, prior to the collision. Anyone with information should contact Suffolk police on 101 quoting CAD 7 of Thursday, September 7.”

An East of England Ambulance Service Trust spokesman said: “We were called at 1.14am today to a road traffic collision in London Road, Ipswich.

“Three ambulance crews, an ambulance officer and SARS were dispatched to the scene to help.

“At the scene we treated two patients, one for a suspected fractured leg and one for a serious head injury. Both patients were taken to Ipswich Hospital in a serious condition.”