THE woman fighting for her life in intensive care following Tuesday's horrific crash on the A35 near Chideock is author Rosemary Ellerbeck who writes under the name of Nicola Thorne.

The author, who is in her sixties, had only just moved to Chideock and was popping into Bridport when the accident happened.

She was taken to Dorset County Hospital' s intensive care unit where her condition is described as stable. A man in his 40s from the Plymouth area also sustained serious, but not life-threatening injuries.

Friends from the West Dorset branch of the Dorset and Somerset Family History Society are devastated by the news.

Jane Ferentzi-Sheppard said: "It is terribly, terribly serious. It is very sad, we are just hoping and praying that she is going to be OK. She'd just finished her latest book and was terribly happy and wanting to join in what we are doing here."

She is known locally for her book on West Dorset murderess Martha Brown, who was hanged for killing her husband in 1856.

Tuesday's three-car pile up caused gridlock for motorists for more than six hours.

The accident happened near the old London Inn at just after 3pm but the A35 wasn't reopened until 9.39pm after drivers had spent hours clogging up the lanes around the Marshwood Vale, Symondsbury and Broadwindsor, prompting criticism of police diversions.

Passengers on the 3pm bus from Bridport got into Chideock at 10.30pm and many drivers took more than two hours to get home.

District councillor Howard Thomas said all the lanes in the Marshwood Vale were locked solid for at least four hours.

"One motorist told me the police had actually directed two coaches through the Marshwood Vale. Quite clearly my concern is that the police need training for the circumstances. We need a special squad trained in the geography of the area in order to make sure the traffic is directed in the right way."

Coun Thomas said calls he made several years ago to ban heavy lorries from the Marshwood Vale would help solve the problem.

"I am very worried about the implications with the coming road works in Chideock. People were queuing up in the vale, never mind the B roads around Bridport. "What this has shown up is there is a possibility that the measures that the roadworks people are putting into effect will be inadequate."

Coun Thomas said that Connect, which is responsible for the coming roadworks in Chideock, would be meeting Char Valley Parish Council on Monday at 7.30pm in Wootton Fitzpaine Village Hall and people would be welcome to go along.

Henry Smith from Bettiscombe said: "When will Dorset police learn that to divert traffic off the A35 through the Marshwood Vale is not an option?

"The roads in the Vale were gridlock, we had National Express Coaches as well as others, articulated lorries, plus vans and hundreds of cars. All this traffic should have been diverted to other main roads, the lanes in the vale cannot take is as many are only single track.

"Is this a taste of the three months to come from the end of September when Chideock is to be closed? Putting traffic through the vale is not an option. Dorset Police need to sort something out as this happens every time the A35 has a bad accident."

To make matters worse on Tuesday the A35 was also closed between Dorchester and Winterbourne Abbas between 5 and 7.20pm and police spent three hours in Whitcombe Road in Beaminster at lunchtime after a 15-ton articulated agricultural trailer overturned and shed its load of grain.

A police spokesman said Tuesday had been 'absolute mayhem'.

Chief Inspector Glen Chalk, head of Dorset Police's road policing unit, said: "Diversions on the A35 trunk road in this area will always cause chaos. It is regrettable but inevitable. Evidence must be secured at the scene and we only have one opportunity to do so.

"Whilst we are mindful of the disruption caused to the travelling public and residents our first duty is to the victims and their families to ensure the best case is presented at court."