A BUSY dual carriageway was closed for more than 90 minutes after a series of rush-hour crashes caused chaos.

A car transporter and three vehicles were involved in the first accident on the northbound section of the A19 on Teesside yesterday.

Traffic on the southbound carriageway then ground to a halt as passing motorists slowed to look at the accident, and caused a series of shunts.

Emergency crews sealed off the road near the A689 interchange at Wynyard, and there were tailbacks of more than three miles in each direction.

The first accident, which happened just after 8am, involved a Scania car transporter, a Vauxhall Astra, a Ford Transit van and a Ford Escort.

A woman from Sunderland, who was in the Escort, was treated for whiplash, and the occupants of the other vehicles were released from hospital after checks.

Fifteen minutes after the first crash, a Volkswagen Passat, an Audi, a Ford Mondeo and a Renault Clio were involved in a series of shunts on the opposite carriageway.

A 39-year-old woman, from Ashington, Northumberland, and her 16-year-old daughter, both passengers in the Mondeo, needed hospital treatment.

The teenager is thought to have suffered a fractured pelvis, and her mother suffered a bruised abdomen and back. Both were detained in the University Hospital of North Tees, in Stockton.

A Cleveland Police spokeswoman said: "The cause of the southbound collision was drivers slowing down to see what was going on in the northbound carriageway.

"Thankfully, people were going fairly slowly, otherwise it could have been horrendous and the injuries could have been a lot more serious."