THREE children were among the casualties rushed to hospital following an five vehicle pile-up on the Heads of the Valleys road yesterday.

The accident at the Garnlydan slip road junction of the A465 saw four cars and a Tesco delivery van collide.

Seven people in total vere taken to hospital, including the children following the crash at 1.40pm.

Luckily no-one sustained serious injuries, but one of the drivers involved said it was a miracle everyone was ok.

Bryan Nash, 57 from Garnlydan, was making his way from Abergavenny to his depot when he got caught up in the accident - and said those involved had a lucky escape.

"Four cars and my van were involved in total," he said.

"One car stopped dead. I tried to break but I went into the car infront which had three children in the back.

"My initial reaction was I was frightened for the car in front. I had a bit of protection in my van but I suppose we all had a lucky escape.

"One of the children had quite a bad cut on their face but everyone was moving around ok."

Mr Nash said he had lived in the area for more than 40 years and was well acquainted with the road and has been working for Tesco for the past 12 months.

He went to Nevill Hall to be checked out as a precaution but knew things could have been a lot worse had cars been travelling faster.

"Fortunately traffic was moving at only about 35 to 40 miles per hour," he said.

Police were forced to shut the busy road between A4046/A465 Ebbw Vale and A4047 King Street / A467 Brynmawr so recovery work could take place resulting in lengthy tailbacks as far as Tredegar and Brynmawr.

The exact circumstances surrounding the crash are unknown and Gwent Police are investigating.

Witnesses to the accident are asked to contact police on 01633 838111.