13-mile delays after M6 crash

Drivers suffered 13 miles of tailbacks and delays of almost two hours after a lorry overturned where the M6 joins the M6 Toll road in Staffordshire.

The lorry, carrying dog food, hit another truck and a van before careering into a column supporting a gantry.

Click on the image on the right to see more pictures from the scene.

The driver of the overturned lorry, a man in his 30s, was pulled out of the cab by the drivers of the other two vehicles. He was taken Walsall Manor Hospital but is not believed to have been seriously injured.

Recovery specialists using a crane took several hours to lift the vehicle and tow it from the scene on the southbound carriageway at junction 11a, the turn-off for the M6 Toll road, near Cannock.

It left rush hour drivers stuck in queues last night following the crash at 1pm.

Both lanes of the toll toad were closed and a lane of the M6 was coned off.

Witness mother-of-one Sarah Darnley, 30, of Cheslyn Hay, said: "The motorway was at a complete standstill."

The closures had a knock-on effect on surrounding roads as drivers left the M6 at junctions 12 and 13 to follow alternative routes.

Many were stuck in snarl-ups on the A449 for Wolverhampton and the A34 to Cannock and Walsall. The A5 at Gailey Island was also affected. The M6 and toll road were reopened by 7.42pm, after repairs to the carriageway and gantry.

Meanwhile, three people were taken to Walsall's Manor Hospital and New Cross Hospital with neck and back injuries when two cars and a van were involved in a smash on the M54 at about 5.40am today.

The crash took place on the westbound carriageway near Codsall Wood.