Five crashes in four hours on M6

The Staffordshire-to-Black Country stretch of the M6 was hit by five crashes in the space of four hours.

The collisions all happened southbound between Stafford and Wednesbury, causing long delays for much of yesterday afternoon.

In the most serious incident, just after 10.15am yesterday, police and paramedics were called to a multiple vehicle crash between junction 12 Gailey and 11a near Cannock.

Highways Agency spokesman Nick Barton said: "The collision involved three cars, one was towing a caravan."

West Midlands Ambulance Service said it was called by Staffordshire Police at 11.03am. Paramedics assessed three people but they were all given the all-clear at the scene.

Shortly afterwards, there were two minor crashes - one at 12.40pm between Gailey and junction 13 Penkridge then another at 12.50pm between junctions 13 and 14 near Stafford.

There was also a crash at 2pm between junction 10 Walsall and junction 9 Wednesbury, followed half an hour later by another smash between junction 11 at Cannock and junction 10a. No one was seriously injured in these accidents.

The Highways Agency reported long delays for much of the afternoon, even continuing after all lanes had been reopened.