Crashes, fire and stranded tram cause nightmare rush hour for drivers

A succession of smashes caused chaos for drivers heading south down the M6, while journeys were also disrupted by a fire on the M5, various breakdowns and crashes in Wolverhampton and Cradley.

It was a bad start to the morning when a car and a lorry collided on the M6 near Walsall at around 4.15am, leaving a man trapped for 20 minutes.

Southbound traffic was halted between junctions 10a and 10 while firefighters worked to free the man who was left with leg injuries and rushed to hospital.

West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesperson, Claire Brown, said: "We had a call at 4.15am from the fire service to the M6 J10a to 10 to reports of a car versus HGV and we had an ambulance, merit trauma doctor and a paramedic area support team attend the scene.

"We treated a man in his 20s who was trapped for about 20 minutes. He suffered leg injuries and was taken to Walsall Manor Hospital, but his injuries were not life threatening."

Two hours later traffic ground to a stop on the M5 southbound between junctions 5 and 6 when a vehicle caught fire, slowing drivers back to Junction 4. Delays didn't ease until around 9am southbound, while drivers heading north also faced bumper-to-bumper traffic around Junction 2 for the Black Country.

Then just as the M6 was beginning to return to normal following the HGV smash, two more crashes slowed traffic yet again.

Three ambulances were sent to the smashes, which happened on either side of the carriageway between junctions 6 and 7 and involved a total of six cars, but nobody involved needed hospital treatment.

Southbound, four cars were involved in a smash at around 6.45am before two cars crashed just 10 minutes later on the northbound carriageway.

Hour-long delays went as far back as the M54 for drivers heading south, with lanes closed on both sides of the motorway while emergency services dealt with the accidents.

A449, A458 and A41 also delayed

Away from the motorways, there were delays on the A449 through Penkridge as drivers tried to avoid the M6 mayhem, while a crash on the A41 disrupted commuters in Wolverhampton.

Trams were suspended between Wolverhampton St Georges and Priestfield following the crash between a car and a tram near Bilston Island, which left a Midland Metro service stranded on the outskirts of the city centre shortly after 7am.

Trams started returning to normal at around 10am.

And the incidents didn't stop once rush hour traffic subsided.

The A458 Windmill Hill in Cradley, Halesowen, remained closed throughout the morning after two cars and a van crashed at 10.20am.

Although nobody in the white Transit van, white Ford Focus or Black Fiat Leon was trapped or needed hospital treatment, police remained on the scene more than an hour after the crash and the road was back open by midday.