Car crash: the wreckage from the two-vehicle smash parked up outside Lidl this morning All photos © A Cooper/InsideCroydon 2025
EXCLUSIVE PHOTOSTORY by AUSTEN COOPER
The Purley Way is best avoided on most Saturday mornings, but that was especially the case today after a two-car crash saw a mile-long stretch of one of Croydon’s busiest urban motorways closed to traffic.
Both drivers needed hospital treatment, with one, a man in his 50s, in a critical condition.
Carnage: a mile-long stretch of the A23 Purley Way was closed for several hours today
By early afternoon, the northbound lanes of the A23 Purley Way, between Mill Lane and Commerce Way, remained closed.
Tailbacks extended to Fiveways, with near gridlock conditions from Croydon Road to Mill Lane, and severe delays from Waddon Road to Waddon New Road.
The cars involved in the crash were a Toyota Auris and a Lexus LC 500.
The roof of the Toyota appeared to have been removed by the emergency services, while the driver’s airbag of the Lexus was triggered.
A Metropolitan Police spokesperson told Inside Croydon: “At around 08.30hrs on Saturday, April 26, two cars were in collision on the Purley Way at its junction with Trojan Way.
Serious incident: both drivers were taken to hospital, with one of them in a critical condition All photos © A Cooper/InsideCroydon 2025
“Met officers responded and the driver of one of the cars – a man in his 50s – was taken to hospital in a critical condition.
“The driver of the second car – a man in his 40s – was also taken to hospital but his condition is not believed to be serious.”
The Met said that there were no other reports of injuries.
Road closed: police remained at the scene of the crash well into the afternoon. All photos © A Cooper/InsideCroydon 2025
“A scene remains in place while an investigation continues,” they said, while also appealing for witnesses to the incident, who are asked to call 101 quoting CAD 1807/26APR25.
Those shoppers who did manage to make it to the Purley Cross retail park today – mostly pedestrians or cyclists – were treated to unusually uncrowded stores and no queues at the checkouts.
It was not such smooth going for motorists, though, especially those relying on their SatNavs.
Some drivers, hoping to escape the congestion, tried to turn into Mill Lane, without realising it is a cul-de-sac. This happened under the watchful eyes of the police’s highways unit, positioned by the Hare and Hounds public house.
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I spent many years in Torre del Mar , 36K up the coast from Malaga, Torre to Malaga is vis the A7 Autoroute, and accidents seemed to be fairly frequent but the Police and emergency services were geared to opening the road ASAP, Police were very quickly on the scene and if there was room to pass , quickly marshalled the traffic to do so, Ambulance if required were there soon after, and tow trucks appeared as if by magic the whole incident was gone very rapidly, and I found similar procedure in France, the Police and accident services after preservation life their priority was to get the road open. Perhaps the UK Police could take lessons from our continental neighbours.
Why bother? Perhaps scumbag motorists just have to learn the hard way to drive better and not crash so much ?!
I know someone who lives in Waddon and walked to M&S and Lidl on Purley Way for a very quick shopping trip, because the shops were almost empty and the air was much fresher on the Purley Way than usual !
It’s “crash”, not “accident”.
To quote the charity RoadPeace, “the term ‘road accident’ exemplifies society’s tolerance of road danger. Too many still do not hold drivers accountable for their actions, implying instead it was a matter of chance. By using the word ‘accident’ – society is saying that there is nothing that can be done about these deaths and injuries, and they are an acceptable pay off for having motor vehicles. Planes and trains do not have ‘accidents’ – they crash. Changing language is vital to change attitudes.”
As I understand it, apart from rescuing the injured, preventing consequent collisions and clearing the damage, part of the police attendance is to gather evidence for possible prosecution.
This might include recording the location and length of skid marks, the positions and state of the vehicles etc before the scene can be cleared.
It may be a crime scene.
There may also be the need to learn lessons regarding the scene and vehicles to improve road safety.
Again I read somewhere, that 3D laser imaging is to be used to more quickly and accurately record the scene.
The police would not have kept the road closed without good reason.
Implicit in the statement they issued to Inside Croydon was that they were investigating the scene.
Purley way is serious issue with speeding time has
Come Police issued more speeding cameras before
Someone die.