An abandoned vehicle which had run out of fuel caused long delays for drivers on the A12.

The van was left in one lane of the A12 at Kelvedon and two lanes of the road between Junction 24, Kelvedon North, and Junction 26, Essex Yeomanry Way, had to be closed whilst it was recovered.

There were long delays on the northbound carriageway, which was already seeing an increased level of traffic due to the bank holiday.

Drivers faced delays of around half an hour to get through the queues, with disruption not clearing until around 2pm.

All lanes opened at 1.20pm, however traffic took a while to ease through the area.

Colin Shead, Roads Policing Sergeant with Essex Police, said the driver would likely face prosecution for leaving the vehicle.

On Twitter he said: "If you run out of fuel on the A12 and abandon your vehicle without informing us, exposing my officers to danger, you can expect to be prosecuted.

"When we arrived the vehicle was fully in lane one, but my officers managed to persuade it to move over."