A woman suffered chest injuries and had to be airlifted to hospital yesterday after the van she was travelling in crashed through a fence on the M55, near Blackpool.

The accident was one of three collisions that brought bank holiday traffic to a standstill on the M55 between Blackpool and Kirkham in the space of an hour.

Two lanes were closed westbound between junction 3 and 4 and one lane was shut on the eastbound carriageway following the incidents.

The van in which the injured woman was travelling crashed near Wesham at about 3.20pm.

Just 30 minutes earlier firefighters were across the carriageway on the westbound side, dealing with a car that had set on fire.

And at 3.30pm four cars collided just a few hundreds further down the carriageway, with nobody injured.