A head-on crash closed the A2500 Lower Road at Minster on the Isle of Sheppey for five hours.

Two vans and a car were in collision near the new roundabout at the junction with Barton Hill Drive on Sunday morning.

Traffic was diverted along Barton Hill Drive and led to long tailbacks.

A Kent Air Ambulance helicopter landed in a nearby field.

A spokesman for South East Coast Ambulance Service said: "We were called shortly before 10am to the Lower Road at Minster.

"Crews attended and were joined by the air ambulance service.

"A number of patients were checked and treated at the scene including a man who had suffered arm and leg injuries who was taken to Kings College Hospital by road for further treatment."

The road remained closed until 3pm which caused huge transport problems across the Island.

Retired priest the Rev Colin Johnson was one of the motorists stuck in traffic as he returned to Sheppey from holding a Sunday service at Borden.

He said: "The whole Island was gridlocked. Queenborough Road was impassable with drivers trying to bypass the crash.

"Traffic on Brielle Way at West Minster was bumper to bumper and crawling at walking pace.

"The roundabout at Tesco and traffic lights at Sheerness train station were locked solid. It was absolute mayhem."

Work on adding a cycle way and pavement to the the Lower Road, which links Leysdown, Eastchurch and Minster with Queenborough, Sheerness and the Sheppey Crossing, has just started.

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