Motorists hoping for an early start to New Year’s Eve celebrations found themselves gridlocked on the M1 at Hemel Hempstead this afternoon.
Reports of severe congestion south of the town between Junctions 6 and & 7 were expected to cause delays of around 15 minutes while emergency services sorted out the aftermatch of a collision involving a number of vehicles which closed three lanes of the motorway at Junction 8.
But with lower than average traffic levels caused by the holiday period, it was expected that normal traffic flow would be resumed by 3.45pm