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MOTORING misery descended on drivers bound for the Gillingham and Shaftesbury show today after a section of the A350 near Blandford was closed for more than two hours.

Traffic ground to a halt after police closed the road near the village of Iwerne Minster, about 50 metres south of the junction with the road to Child Okeford.

Diversions were put in place as emergency services raced to the assistance of two drivers who collided just before 8am.

Two retained fire crews from Blandford acted to free the trapped drivers from the wreckage of their vehicles, using hydraulic cutting equipment to free one of them.

Paramedics were alerted to the scene by an ambulance crew travelling to the Shaftesbury and Gillingham show, a spokesman for the service said.

An emergency medical practitioner from the South Western Ambulance service treated the injured drivers at the scene before two ambulance crews took the them to separate hospitals.

A driver complaining of chest pain was taken by ambulance to hospital in Salisbury. The second motorist received treatment for neck injuries at Dorset County Hospital in Dorchester.

Hundreds of motorists heading for the Turnpike Showground in Motcombe, between Shaftesbury and Gillingham, were released from the traffic chaos at about 10.40am when police reopened the road.

A spokesman for the Trafficlink, which provides traffic updates to the Daily Echo's website, said the closure had registered as the fourth highest severity on a scale of five.