MONDAY will long be remembered by the emergency services as the day that saw the largest number of road accidents in Herefordshire in recent memory.

They attended 17 collisions up until midnight - seven of them involving serious injury.

The worst and first of the collisions happened at opposite ends of the county within minutes of each other

A 29-year-old woman is still in a critical condition at Selly Oak Hospital, Birmingham, after a collision near Brampton Bryan, on the Herefordshire-Powys border, just before 8am.

Firefighters spent about 45 minutes cutting the unconscious woman free from the wreck of her car. An air ambulance flew her from the scene on the A4113 Knighton to Leintwardine road.

Just after 8am, a fuel tanker was in collision with a parcel delivery lorry on the Holme Lacy causeway. A car was then in collision with the lorry.

All three drivers were cut free from their vehicles. Two were taken to Hereford County Hospital.

The causeway was closed for much of the day, causing congestion in and around Hereford city centre and firefighters faced the risk of an explosion while pumping fuel from the wrecked tanker into another.

A steady stream of collision calls kept emergency services at full stretch over the rest of the day. The last of these calls came in just before midnight.

A Police spokesman said it was one of the worst days for road collisions in recent memory. The overnight rain is said to have played a part in many of them.

Two weeks ago, retiring county fire chief Ray Rogers told the Hereford Times that "shock, horror" tactics were now needed to tackle the county's road toll - running at about 80 casualties a month.

Police want witnesses to the collision at Brampton Bryan. The vehicles involved were a blue Vauxhall Vectra and a grey Toyota Landcruiser.

Information to PC Bob Anning at Leominster police station on 08457 444 888.

The 50-year-old man who died in a road collision at on the B438 Hereford-Brecon road last Tuesday has been named as Phillip Lampkin, from Montrose, Scotland.