Fire crews fought to free an injured man from the wreckage of his car after a smash on the A12.

A recovery vehicle carrying a lorry crossed the central reservation and collided with the car coming the other way.

Yesterday afternoon's crash brought rush-hour traffic to a standstill and there were ten-mile tailbacks.

It happened at 3.40pm on the southbound carriageway of the A12 at its junction with the B1137 at Hatfield Peverel.

The recovery vehicle driving towards Colchester collided with a Ford Mondeo and swerved over the central reservation, hitting a Ford Fiesta travelling south. The recovery vehicle and its load ended up in a field .

The Fiesta driver was cut from the wreckage, taken to Broomfield Hospital, Chelmsford, and released after treatment.

A family in the Mondeo received minor injuries and were taken to Colchester General Hospital and Broomfield.

Police closed the A12 northbound carriageway between Witham and Boreham, then shut both carriageways at 6pm for two hours to clear the road. Thousands of drivers were diverted.

To add to the chaos there were minor accidents at the B1024 Kelvedon junction with the A12, and on the A120 between Braintree and Bradwell, and later the same evening, the M11 was closed due to the jumbo crash at Stansted Airport

Carnage - one of the vehicles damaged in the accident

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