Kate Moss flown to hospital after car accident

The famous reluctance of supermodels to do anything for themselves may have backfired yesterday when Kate Moss's chauffeur-driven car crashed.

The Croydon-born model passed her driving test first time in May after two months' tuition, but in fitting with the supermodel lifestyle chose to continue with a chauffeur. As she was being driven to a photo shoot for Vogue yesterday her Range Rover crashed on the A13 in Essex. Ms Moss, 27, was flown in an air ambulance to Basildon Hospital suffering from a shoulder injury but was later allowed to leave.

In an attempt to preserve the supermodel mystique, Essex emergency services were under instructions not to release names.

But the modelling agency Storm, for whom the 5ft 7in Ms Moss is the leading light, issued a terse statement confirming that she was involved in an accident and had escaped largely unhurt.

The accident involved a Montego travelling in the same direction as Ms Moss's car. Both cars went down a steep slope, leaving Ms Moss's driver with minor neck injuries. The elderly man who was driving the Montego had cuts and bruises. His wife suffered minor injuries.