EMERGENCY services were called to a crash on the busy M271 in Southampton yesterday after a driver smashed into the central reservation in bad weather.

The car collided with the barriers after the driver lost control as he headed into the city at about 12.30pm.

A spokesman for Hampshire police said the accident had occurred during extremely heavy rain, though fortunately no one was seriously injured.

Firefighters and the police then closed the road for about half-an-hour while the car was recovered from the centre of the motorway, and the driver taken to Southampton General Hospital for treatment.