Devon

Drug drive arrest after woman seriously hurt in Devon A-road crash | Devon Live
Skip to main content^[1]

Need to know

The woman was trapped in her car

10:19, 24 Mar 2026

Police car generic(Image: Newcastle Chronicle)

Emergency services extracted a woman from her car after a serious incident:

1. A woman in her 80s was seriously injured in a crash on the A381 in Devon last night.
2. Devon and Cornwall Police attended the scene between Churchstow and Ledstone at around 7.43pm^[2] on Monday, March 23.
3. The ambulance^[3] and fire services^[4] attended the incident, which involved a van and a car.
4. The driver of the car, a woman in her 80s, was trapped inside the vehicle and was extracted by emergency services.
5. She was left with serious injuries and taken to Derriford Hospital.
6. A man in his 30s, from Brixham^[5], was arrested on suspicion of driving while unfit through drugs.
7. He remained in police custody on Tuesday morning.
8. National Highways^[6] were called to the scene due to an oil spill as a result of the crash.
9. The road was blocked and reopened at around 8.45pm, and the road was completely clear of oil by 10.50pm.
10. A spokesperson for Devon and Cornwall Police said: “The incident involved a van and a car. Ambulance and fire attended. The driver of the car, a woman in her 80s, was trapped in her vehicle and was extracted by emergency services. She sustained serious injuries and was taken to Derriford Hospital. A man in his 30s from Brixham^[7] was arrested on suspicion of driving while unfit through drugs. He remains in custody.. The road was blocked and reopened around 8.45pm. Highways were called to deal with an oil spill as a result of the collision and the road was completely clear by 10.50pm.”
11. Want to see more of the stories you love from DevonLive? Making us your preferred source on Google means you’ll get more of our exclusives, top stories and must-read content straight away. To add DevonLive as a preferred source, simply click here^[8]. Or ‌

    ‌

    

    At Reach and across our entities^[10] we and our partners use information collected through cookies and other identifiers from your device to improve experience on our site, analyse how it is used and to show personalised advertising. You can opt out of the sale or sharing of your data, at any time clicking the “Do Not Sell or Share my Data” button at the bottom of the webpage. Please note that your preferences are browser specific. Use of our website and any of our services represents your acceptance of the use of cookies^[11] and consent to the practices described in our Privacy Notice^[12] and Terms and Conditions^[13].

    Accept

    References

    1. ^{^} Skip to main content (www.devonlive.com)
    2. ^{^} between Churchstow and Ledstone at around 7.43pm (www.devonlive.com)
    3. ^{^} ambulance (www.devonlive.com)
    4. ^{^} fire services (www.devonlive.com)
    5. ^{^} Brixham (www.devonlive.com)
    6. ^{^} National Highways (www.devonlive.com)
    7. ^{^} Brixham (www.devonlive.com)
    8. ^{^} click here (www.google.com)
    9. ^{^}