SOUTHEND'S main arterial road was shut for five hours on a busy Saturday night while a multiple car crash was being dealt with by emergency services.

The five-car shunt left debris and oil strewn across the A127 near the Progress Road traffic lights - metres from the new 40 mile per hour speed cameras - at 7.10pm on Saturday.

Families keen to go to the seafront to watch the fireworks, boy-racers eager to show off their high performance motors and teenagers up for an evening at one of Southend's many nightclubs were all left stranded on the road, some for up to two hours.

Rayleigh traffic unit were on the scene to try and re-direct traffic which quickly stacked up beyond the A130 roundabout, forcing drivers to wait until the Rayleigh Weir before choosing either the B1013 through Rayleigh or the slow moving A13 traffic.

For full story read Monday's Echo

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