A woman who was hit by a car near the entrance to the town’s football stadium was at the centre of a police investigation today.

The pedestrian was walking on Northern Way, the road that leads up to Madejski Stadium, when she was struck by a vehicle.

Paramedics were scrambled to the scene shortly before 8.30am and the woman was treated for serious injuries.

It immediately became clear that the woman, believed to have been aged in her fifties, needed hospital treatment and she was rushed to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.

A police spokesman said: “Police were called at 8.25am to reports of a road traffic collision in Northern Way, Reading between a car and a pedestrian.

"Northern Way was closed at 8.45am this morning but the road has now re opened.

"The ambulance service were also in attendance, and a woman has been taken to the John Radcliffe with serious but not believed to be life threatening injuries at this time."

The woman’s condition was not known at this time, but a spokesman for South Central Ambulance Service said she sustained serious injuries to her head, chest and legs.

The spokesman added: "She was taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford to the major trauma unit. A team from the air ambulance service travelled in a land ambulance with her."