Essex's highways chief today asked police to avoid long road closures after accidents.

Rodney Bass was speaking after a crash between a motorbike and a car led to the A127 being closed for three hours yesterday.

Mr Bass, county council cabinet member of highways and transport, called for police to come up with an action plan to ease the "ridiculous and inordinate delays".

He said: "There are far too many incidents where there isn't a fatality or injury - perhaps just a spillage or a jack-knifed lorry - where motorists should be able to get moving a lot quicker.

"We urge police to work with us to set up a new, swifter plan to remove debris and vehicles when accidents occur."

Insp Graeme Pinder of Rayleigh road policing unit said their main priority at a crash scene was safety.

He said: "In the last two years, two officers have been killed on high-speed roads and we went through a huge programme to make sure it would never happen again."

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