More crash misery for drivers

Motorists faced a second day of chaos on the M6 today after a lorry overturned near the scene of a crash which wreaked havoc just 28 hours earlier.

The accident in the early hours of today forced rush hour traffic to a halt in Staffordshire for the second day in a row.

The M6 was closed northbound between Junction 12 at Gailey and Junction 13, Stafford South, after a lorry overturned at 2.20am.

It follows an accident on the same stretch of road yesterday when two lorries collided just before 6am, closing the motorway between Junction's 12 and 13 and forcing motorway traffic onto local roads.

The Highways Agency said they were not aware of any particular problem on that stretch which might explain two accidents in such quick succession.

Scenes this morning saw vehicles again held up on the A5 and the A449 and tailbacks on the motorway.

It was estimated the carriageway would be completely open by midday.

The Highways Agency said the lorry had struck a footbridge parapet.

The accident came at the start of the busiest travel weekend of the festive period. The RAC predicts a peak at 3pm today, when an estimated 18 million look set to take to the roads.