THOUSANDS of motorists faced chaos today after a major smash on the A34 left five people in hospital.

A lorry careered through the central reservation into the path of oncoming cars at about 6.30am.

Four people were trapped in their vehicles after the crash, in which two lorries collided before one ploughed through the central reservation into three cars.

It was the second major accident on the busy dual carriageway in four days.

Four ambulances, police and fire engines rushed to the northbound carriageway about a mile north of the Pear Tree junction. Fire crews used cutting gear to free the trapped drivers.

Five people were taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford but nobody was seriously injured.

Drivers faced delays in tailbacks several miles long after police closed the carriageway for more than five hours. The southbound carriageway was reduced to one lane but was re-opened by 10am.

Sgt Helen Roberts, of Thames Valley Police, said: "It is a busy road and at rush-hour it was very lucky that more people were not hurt and that the injuries were minor." Today's accident follows a horrific smash on the same road near Didcot on Saturday in which a Bristol couple and their 11-year-old son were killed.

Teresa Smith-Agassi, 57, her husband Meir Agassi, 50, and their son Daniel died after a horse transporter drove into the back of their VW Polo.

The family's car had slowed down behind a queue of traffic on the northbound carriageway, just north of the Chilton turn-off.

lA woman in her late 20s died near Abingdon when her car hit a tree at about 11pm last night. Firefighters cut her free but paramedics could not save her.

Police are not revealing her name until they have traced her relatives.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.