COMMUTERS around the town faced traffic misery from Wednesday evening into Thursday morning after a spate of crashes.

As the evening rush hour was building on Wednesday, three cars collided just outside the Great Western Hospital close to the Commonhead roundabout, leaving one woman trapped in a vehicle.

Through traffic could only creep past as one lane heading north was closed for two hours while police recovered all three vehicles. One driver was taken to hospital for treatment.

A spokesman for Wiltshire Police said: “We were called at 5.19pm to a three-vehicle road traffic collision on the northbound carriageway of the A419 close to the Commonhead roundabout, just after the turning for Great Western Hospital.

“The collision involved a blue Mercedes, a black Mini and a grey and white Fiat 500.

“When we attended a female passenger was trapped in the Fiat and was unable to open her door.

“The male drivers of the Mini and Mercedes, and the female driver of the Fiat, all suffered minor injuries as a result of the collision.

“The ambulance service attended and the driver of the Mercedes was taken to hospital. While there were no serious injuries, all three cars had to be recovered, and there was closure of one lane for recovery which was reopened at 7.20pm.”

Shortly before 8am the following morning, traffic on Tewkesbury Way stalled as police were called to two incidents. At the roundabout on the junction of Tregoze Way, four cars collided, causing congestion for more than an hour and a half.

The police spokesman said: “At around 7.56am we responded to a four vehicle road traffic collision on Tewkesbury Way on the roundabout at the junction with Tregoze Way involving a red Audi A3, a red Ford Ka, a blue Ford Fiesta and a silver Audi A3.

“The ambulance service attended the scene but only minor injuries were sustained. It seemed that it was no more than a shunt, and the incident was sorted by around 9.30am.”

At the same time, traffic thickened around Thamesdown Avenue due to a van which had broken down on Purton Road.

The white panel transit van broke down at around 8.55am and police attended the scene until 9.15am to assist with moving the traffic.

There was also a hold-up after a single-vehicle crash on the A420 near Swindon on Tuesday evening.