Motorists and commuters across south Essex were delayed for hours last night after the roads and railways were plunged into chaos.

The nightmare chain of events started at 3pm when a car crashed into the central reservation of the A127 at Rayleigh Weir, causing a lamppost to fall down.

An hour later a van overturned on the A127 by the Fortune of War site and at 5pm a lorry smashed into a rail bridge in Watlington Road, Benfleet, leaving commuters waiting up to 40 minites for trains.

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