A notorious accident blackspot was the scene of another crash, despite recent work to improve the safety of the road.

The accident, involving a van, a Ford Mondeo and a Vauxhall Vectra, happened on the A44 near Bredenbury at about 1.20pm on Saturday (May 21).

The road was closed for a time as emergency services dealt with the aftermath.

One person was cut free from a vehicle by firefighters, and a woman was taken to hospital in Hereford by air ambulance.

However, no-one involved was thought to have sustained life-threatening injuries.

Traffic management officer PC Colin Mears said: "We regularly carry out policing activities there, against speeding and poor or inappropriate driving."

However, he said the road was not as bad as it was made out.

"There was something in the national newspapers last year saying that the A44 was the seventh worst road in Europe," said PC Mears. "That wasn't accurate because they were using out of date data. It's not that bad."

A Herefordshire Council spokesman said the road was classed "medium to high risk" by the AA but that recent improvements have made it much safer.

"A considerable amount of work has been carried out to improve signage, put in anti-skid surfaces, improve visibility and road markings," she said.

The improvements have seen fatal or serious injury accidents, running at eight a year until 2003, fall to three in 2004.