AN 18-year-old driver was killed on Tuesday when the car he was driving ploughed into the back of a road maintenance lorry on the A3 about a mile south of Petersfield. Immediately a team from the Independent Police Complaints Commission was called to the scene as it emerged that the crash was linked to an earlier incident in the centre of Liss. As The Herald went to press, the name of the teenager had still not been released. A police spokesman said formal identification could not take place. Due to the injuries sustained by the victim, his family could not identify him and DNA testing was being carried out. But the man was believed to have been driving an Audi and is thought to have been from the Selborne area. The car was so badly damaged that onlookers could not tell its make or the colour after the crash. Questions remained to be answered about the events leading up to the accident, which took place on the southbound dual carriageway by Queen Elizabeth Country Park. A huge response team rushed to the scene shortly after the accident and closed off a section of the road as firefighters tackled the blaze. The car, which was believed to have been clocked by a police helicopter travelling at speeds of up to 125 mph before the accident, had flipped on to its bonnet and rested against the diversion sign on the back of the lorry. At least 17 police vehicles, scores of police officers, and fire engines from Petersfield, Horndean and Copnor in Portsmouth, rushed to the accident. Roadblocks were quickly set up stopping traffic joining the southbound carriageway at Petersfield and Buriton. Queues of traffic had to be turned round on the A3 and redirected, causing major traffic jams throughout the day and evening. Police have revealed few details following the incident which is the subject of an IPCC investigation. The police have issued the following statement: "Hampshire Constabulary has made a mandatory referral to the IPCC following a fatal crash on the southbound A3 yesterday morning, January 24 "At 10-11 am, a car was in collision with the rear of a lorry, near to the Queen Elizabeth Country Park, south of Petersfield. "At the request of Hampshire Constabulary, an IPCC investigation team attended the scene of the collision, following police interest in the vehicle prior to the crash. "The incident has been linked to an incident at Liss train station. At the moment the circumstances of the incident cannot be confirmed, as this forms an integral part of the investigation. "The IPCC will be making a decision into the mode of investigation in due course." Earlier in the day, eyewitnesses at Liss reported police activity in Station Road where a large police vehicle was said to be parked in a layby close to the railway station at around 7 am. They said the van remained in position for more than two hours before moving off. Around 10 am, there was an incident involving a police vehicle and another car in Station Road and the area around the scene was cordoned off." A police spokesman told The Herald: "The area has been closed to the public while a search is carried out further to a collision involving one vehicle and a police car." This incident is believed to have taken place just minutes before a car crashed into the back of the lorry on the A3. Eyewitnesses in Liss said police returned to the village around 1 pm and set up a roadblock. Traffic congestion continued on the A3 southbound as rush-hour traffic returned home in the evening, and police did not reopen the road until the early hours of Wednesday morning.
