Early-morning crash closes stretch of A1 near Morpeth

The road closed in both directions between the A697 at Morpeth and the A1068 following a one-vehicle collision at around 6am, Highways England said.

AA Traffic News reported that a car had hit the central reservation. Police officers, firefighters and ambulance crews attended the incident.

A Northumbria Police spokesman told the Gazette: “At 6am on Friday we received a report of a one-vehicle collision on the A1 northbound near Morpeth.

“Emergency services attended and found a car was ablaze. The fire was extinguished and thankfully nobody was seriously injured.

“A clear-up operation is ongoing and drivers are advised there may be increased congestion in the area.”

Highways England tweeted: “Traffic is being diverted onto the A697 northbound. Traffic is being diverted off of the A1 to follow local routes around the closure.

“There is no officially signed diversion however the A1068 Coast Road is open and flowing well. Road users may wish to consider routing via this road.”

Highways also confirmed at 7.20am that the road had re-opened to traffic and that vehicles were travelling through the area as normal.

A spokeswoman for the North East Ambulance Service confirmed that two patients were taken to Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital in Cramlington.

The service sent a clinical care manager, one crew from its Hazardous Area Response Team (HART), and two double-crewed ambulances to the scene.