A MOCK accident designed to test the response of Worcestershire emergency services to a major incident has been hailed a success.

Police, firefighters and ambulance crews were scrambled to Worcester's Shrub Hill Station on Sunday, where three trains and a minibus were reported to have been involved in a huge accident.

The emergency services were greeted with scenes of carnage, designed to be as realistic as possible to see how they would react in a real situation.

"It went very well," said Chief Insp Howard Owen, of Worcester Police.

"It was really very effective."

The exercise, codename Operation Rudolph, tested how well the emergency services worked both together and individually under pressure.

"We had about 15 staff at the scene in various capacities," said Roger Job, locality manager for Hereford and Worcester Ambulance Services.

"We also had two doctors and nurses from Hereford General Hospital casualty department."

Ambulance crews were tested on their ability to prioritise casualties but were not required to send people to hospital.

"We also tested inter-agency liaison, which was in line with our major emergency arrangements that we have in Hereford and Worcester," added Mr Job.

The thorough exercise began by testing the response times of fire and ambulance crews, both of which arrived on the scene within seven minutes.

Volunteers acted as casualties in the emergency, which supposedly left 10 people dead.

But it did not end there.

The exercise was followed by a Press conference where ambulance, police, and fire representatives were grilled by mock reporters.

And a 'public inquiry' has been arranged for January 2002, where witnesses to the incident will be questioned.

The exercise, which took place between 1pm and 5pm, was organised by Worcestershire County Council emergency planning manager John Asquith.