A PERSON has received hospital treatment following a serious crash which shut down a busy main road for hours.

The A12's Colchester-bound carriageway between Kelvedon South and Marks Tey and the A120 came to a standstill yesterday evening.

Emergency services flooded the scene after eight vehicles - including including four HGVs - were involved in a serious crash.

As a result of the horror crash the road became blocked and motorists were left completely cut-off.

Essex Police initially said they did not believe those involved had sustained any major injuries.

Adam Pipe, of the force's roads policing team, told the BBC: “Thankfully it doesn't look to be a serious collision in regard to casualties.

“There is a fair bit of the carriageway, which is blocked, and we are going to need some heavy equipment to remove it.”

Bosses at the East of England Ambulance Service have now said one person did have to be taken to hospital.

A spokesperson for the East of England Ambulance Service said: “We were called at 4.21pm on March 30 to a road traffic collision involving multiple vehicles on the northbound A12 near Feering.

“An ambulance, the Hazardous Area Response Team, two ambulance officers, a rapid response vehicle and a response car from the Essex and Herts Air Ambulance were sent to the scene.

“One patient was transported to Colchester Hospital for treatment.”

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The huge operation and subsequent closure was eventually scaled down to just Kelvedon South and Kelvedon North.

But its peak, delays of more than an hour were experienced as drivers were stuck in more than five miles of tailbacks, stretching back to Hatfield Peverel.

Essex Fire and Rescue area manager Neil Fenwick added: “Thankfully nobody was trapped inside their vehicles.”

Some drivers reported being stuck on the road for several hours as traffic was diverted through Kelvedon town centre.

The road did remain closed for hours, after National Highways said a complex recovery operation took place throughout the evening.

Shortly after 9pm, delays approaching the closure had eased significantly with recovery nearing completion.

The A12 reopened just after 11.30pm on Thursday evening.