A POLICE officer has hit back after his colleagues were subjected to a vile tirade of abuse by a passer-by who was frustrated that they had closed the road to deal with a crash.

Officers, ambulance staff and fire crews attended the scene in London Road, Benfleet, to help a driver who had crashed into an electricity pylon.

The vehicle was blocking the road in both directions at the junction of Downer Road and police officers arrived at the scene to manage traffic and help crews rescue the injured driver.

PC Ian Risden, from the Castle Point and Rochford community policing team, said that his colleagues ended up being distracted by a pedestrian who started filming the incident on his mobile phone.

He said: “Two of our officers were assisting with the road closures and managing the scene when they were subjected to a torrent of abuse by a member of the public who took umbrage of being told to go away from the scene.

“Unfortunately, we were too busy dealing with the injured person and controlling the traffic, so we couldn’t deal with him.

“It was a man who just decided that he wanted to have his say.

“It is a minority but it does happen that people get angry at police when we have to put in place road closures.

“It’s very rare to have someone go so out of their way to protest against it.

“This person got their mobile phone out and tried to film officers.”

PC Risden urged people to understand that police have to close roads to save lives.

He said: “Our primary role within the police is to preserve lives and we will do whatever can to achieve that.

“Fortunately the motorist has gone to hospital without life-threatening injuries.”

A spokesperson for the East of England Ambulance Service said: “We were called at just after 7.30am on Wednesday to reports of a road traffic collision in London Road, Benfleet.

“A rapid response vehicle, two ambulance crews and an ambulance officer were sent to the scene.

“The patient, believed to be a male in his 30s, was transported by road to Southend Hospital with head injuries. His injuries are not thought to be life-threatening.”

There was slow moving traffic on the A13 London Road at Bread and Cheese Hill due to the accident. Did you see incident take place?

Any witnesses and anybody with information can call Essex Police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.