There were two accidents on Harbour Road in Paget at the same time yesterday, causing traffic backlogs back to Front Street for several hours.

Police blocked the entrance to The Lane by the entrance to Crow Lane to all traffic. The first crash between two motorcycles took place at the junction of Pomander Road and The Lane in Paget at around 3 p.m.

A Police statement said one of the riders was taken to hospital with serious leg injuries. The other driver was unhurt but was arrested on suspicion driving under the influence of alcohol.

An eyewitness told The Royal Gazette: “Someone did lose a lot of blood.

“All I want to say is that the guy coming from Hamilton was in the wrong.

The witness said the cycles collided at the junction after one rider cut across. Another person close to the scene said she did not see the crash but added: “ I heard a big bang, then heard a lady screaming. It must have been when she saw all the blood.

“It was really bad because some stupid teenager started screaming too making fun of the other lady,” she said.

An employee of Aberfeldy Nurseries said accidents occur at the junction “about once a week”.

The second accident occurred several hundred yards away at 3.55 p.m. when a a car hit a wall near the junction of The Lane and Stowe Hill.

The man who owned the wall said he was “walking down the driveway when he heard a big bang and a big rocks fell into his yard”.

He said the driver told him she “fell asleep”.

The driver of the car, declined to comment.

By 4.10 p.m. the car was pulled off the wall and the engine started and Fire Service Personnel hosed the victim's blood off the street.

By 4.30 p.m. The Lane was open to traffic coming from Hamilton, but the road into Hamilton remained closed.

There were heavy traffic jams until about 5.30 p.m. coming out of Hamilton while cars heading to the east remained backed up until about 6 p.m.