Traffic woe at V festival
Miles of tailbacks were today building up on major routes leading to Weston Park in Staffordshire as thousands of music fans headed to the V Festival.
Roads including the M6 and the A5 were clogged up with queues of camper vans and other festival traffic, with other drivers being warned to avoid the area completely.
The Highways Agency today opened up the hard shoulder of the southbound stretch of the M6 leading to Junction 12 at Gailey due to five miles of slow-moving traffic.
Festival traffic was also allowed to use the hard shoulder on the approach to the M54 Junction 3, which leads to the park at Weston-under-Lizzard.
The M6 J12 northbound exit slip road at Gailey was closed amid, with motorists sent up to Junction 13 at Stafford, where a two-car crash at 9.15am led to three miles of congestion.
Elsewhere traffic was heavy along the A5 from as far back as Brownhills, around five miles from the festival site.
The A41 was also clogged up going back to Junction 3 of the M54. The A449 was also queuing from Junction 13 of the M6 through Penkridge, while there were jams further back along the A5 at Brownhills.
V Festival organisers opened the car parks early today to try and ease traffic queues heading into the site.
Staffordshire County Council predicts the worst times for jams would be today and Monday morning, when the last campers leave.
Highways Agency spokesman Nathan Wallis warned: "The area will remain congested all day."
The Highways Agency also has extra traffic officers on patrol throughout today.
The festival runs tomorrow and Sunday and features big names such as Oasis and The Killers.
