M6 closed for four hours as police negotiate with man on bridge
A stretch of the M6 was shut for more than four hours last night as police negotiated with a man on a bridge.
The motorway was closed in both directions in Great Barr from around 8.30pm while specialist officers spoke with the man, who was on the wrong side of the railings on a bridge over the road.
The M6 was shut northbound between Junction 6 for the A38 and Junction 8 for the M5 and southbound between junctions 8 and 7 until the man was brought to safety at around 12.30am.
Chief Inspector Jack Hadley, from West Midlands Police's Force Response Unit, said the man was treated by ambulance staff after a lengthy negotiation which ended with "a positive outcome".
There were lengthy delays on both sides of the motorway and many drivers were stuck within the closed section of road for several hours, with some managing to divert past the incident by turning around.
On Monday, Ch Insp Hadley praised his officers for safely resolving a similar incident in Dudley, where a vulnerable woman was on the wrong side of the railings of a bridge over Duncan Edwards Way.
