Thousands of Albion fans in Hawthorns traffic chaos
Thousands of fans travelling to West Bromwich Albion's clash with Manchester City were stuck in two miles of queues as roads around The Hawthorns ground to a near standstill.
Kick-off at the Hawthorns had to be delayed by 15 minutes as many fans were still making their way into the stadium minutes before the start of last night's game.
Drivers using The Expressway, in West Bromwich, faced delays of up to an hour as the main traffic island leading to the M5 became clogged with cars.
Long queues also formed along Kenrick Way and along Birmingham Road while congestion built up along the M6, which was still clogged as the game got under way at 8.15pm.
Officials from the Highways Agency said the heavy traffic had been caused by the large number of fans travelling south down the M6 from Manchester for the Premier League clash.
Traffic started to build up on roads around the Hawthorns from around 4pm. Warnings had been issued urging supporters to set off early and give themselves extra time to get to the match.
The problems on the M6 were exacerbated by a two car accident on the M6 southbound near its junction with the M5 that was reported at 6.48pm.
Two people in one of the vehicles were said to have minor injuries.
But the Highways Authority described the extra congestion caused by this crash as a 'drop in the ocean' when compared to the overall congestion resulting from the sheer volume of traffic.
