Motorists caught up in misery on roads

These were the scenes facing drivers on the region's roads as accidents and roadworks brought traffic to a standstill.

Long queues built up on the M6 twice within 12 hours after two separate collisions, one of which left a Black Country woman having to be flown to hospital.

Click on the images on the right to see more pictures.

Meanwhile drivers were faced with further traffic misery as roadworks started on Wolverhampton's busy A449 Penn Road.

The motorway was shut in both directions from around 7.40pm yesterday after a Vauxhall Corsa and a lorry collided on the M6 South Junction 10a (M54) near Essington.

Thousands of motorists ground to a halt while the air ambulance from Cosford landed on the carriageway to drop a doctor off before flying a 51-year-old Rowley Regis woman to the new QE Hospital in Birmingham.

Firefighters from Cannock had to cut the roof off the Corsa to free the female passenger.

The male driver of the car was taken to Walsall Manor Hospital to be checked over while the lorry driver was uninjured. The road reopened at around 8.48pm.

It was shut again for northbound traffic today at around 7.15am after another collision between three cars close to Hilton Park Services between Junction 10a and 11.

Two young children had to be treated at the scene, although there were no serious injuries.

Cars were queuing along Penn Road from the Waitrose supermarket up to Coalway Road during rush hour yesterday as workers from Severn Trent Water started pulling up the road.