MOTORISTS face long delays heading home this evening after congestion along a 25 mile stretch of the A12.

The Essex Traffic Control Centre has issued an alert for the northbound carriageway as traffic is slow-moving from Sandon at junction 18 to the Ardleigh Crown Interchange at junction 29.

The chaos follows severe problems around Colchester yesterday evening with a four-hour road closure on the A12 after a bus and a lorry collided.