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Man hit by lorry in V Festival traffic chaos

A man was hit by a lorry in Wolverhampton today amid traffic chaos on the roads as thousands of motorists descended on this year's V Festival.

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The crash was on the A449 in Bushbury, near the exit slip road for junction two of the M54 at Coven.

The junction shut for more than two hours as the air ambulance landed.

Drivers heading to Weston Park were stuck in queues for more than an hour after the crash at 8.50am. A man in his 20s was treated for a pelvic injury and taken to Birmingham's QE Hospital.

Traffic had already been heavy this morning as up to 95,000 revellers are expected to descend on this year's festival.

Rush hour was thrown into chaos with queues and congestion hitting motorways and major routes around Weston Park.

Police were drafted in to control traffic on the M6 north at junction12 for the A5 at Gailey and motorists were urged to queue on the hard shoulder approaching the junction.

Traffic stretched back past junction 10 for Walsall towards the M5 at junction 8 and highways bosses said the problem was expected to get worse throughout the day.

There was also slow moving traffic on the A5 between Gailey Island and the Pickmere Island near Shifnal.

West Midlands Ambulance Service said they had been to 15 road collisions in just three hours this morning and urged drivers to take care in treacherous conditions.

More than 35,000 cars are expected to travel to the site this weekend for the festival which is headlined by Beyonce and the Kings of Leon.

The festival campsites opened at 9am today and the site was expected to be a mudbath following heavy rain overnight.

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