It has not been a good day on the roads of Essex with vehicle fires, crashes and broken down cars causing chaos on some of the busiest roads in the county.
Today (Tuesday, December 18), there were two car fires on the M11, two broken down cars on the M25 near the Dartford Crossing and a serious crash on the A120- just to name a few.
Motorists were stuck in miles of queuing traffic throughout the day as many took to social media to vent their frustration.
Here's a roundup of all the incidents on the roads which caused chaos today:
The A12
In the first incident of the day, a crash involving a car and a lorry on the A12 southbound, caused four miles of queues.
The incident happened on the southbound carriageway of the A12 between junction 20A for the B1137 and Hatfield Peverel South, to junction 19 for the A130 and Chelmsford at around 6.30am this morning.
It affected traffic travelling towards Chelmsford and south on the A12 , as well as those leaving for the Boreham Interchange.
The congestion also affected both sides of the carriageway, with four miles of traffic on the northbound direction, between Howe Green and Boreham, and two miles of delays southbound.
There was also traffic along Mani Road in Sandon, Maldon Road between Great Baddow and Sandon and the A130 at the Boreham Interchange, from the services to the Sainsbury's roundabout.
The M11
All traffic was held on the southbound carriageway of the M11 near Harlow between junction 7 for the A414 Canes Lane/Harlow and junction 6 shortly before 8am.
The road was completely blocked in both directions while fire crews attended to a vehicle that had caught fire.
Essex County Council's Traffic Control tweeted: " M11 Londonbound – Accident involving two vehicles, one of which is on fire, blocking two lanes between J7 (A414/Harlow) and J6 (M25)".
A video was later posted on social media showing the shocking vehicle fire which caused ten miles of queues.
Highways England confirmed that traffic was released at around 9.00am but traffic remained congested for some time.
Essex County Fire and Rescue Service tweeted: "Firefighters are currently dealing with an incident on the M11 (car fire following a road traffic collision). Thank you for your patience."
A first responder who was at the scene of the car fire said that "it could have gone off like a bomb" at any moment.
Martin Ford, 47, a first responder from Colchester said: "I was at the back of the Volvo holding the patient's head and the car behind could have gone off like a bomb.
"An off-duty paramedic also turned up and I said, 'What do you reckon?', and he said, 'We have got no choice, we have to get him out."
The car at the back had caught fire but as time went on the situation was getting more and more dangerous. Martin didn't want to move the patient, as he could have had an injury related to his spine, and in that situation wanted to wait for the emergency services.
"The fire got bigger," he said, "The vehicle behind started exploding."
More than eight hours later, a second car fire on the M11 northbound brought traffic to a standstill.
The incident happened between junction 8 on the A120 at Priory Wood roundabout and junction 9 at Saffron Walden and as a result, all traffic was temporarily held.
A video surfaced online showing the vehicle completely engulfed in flames which caused hour-long delays.
The incident also caused 35 minutes of delays going south as people slow to have a look which affected traffic for Stansted Airport.
The A120
A man was taken to hospital after a serious crash on the A120 near Marks Tey which saw an air ambulance land.
The crash happened on the westbound carriageway of the A120 from Old London Road (Marks Tey) and the B1024 Colchester Road (Coggeshall) shortly before 10am this morning.
It completely closed the road in both directions, with witnesses revealing that an air ambulance landed at the scene.
It was later confirmed that the crash, which involved a lorry and a van, saw the male van driver taken to hospital for treatment.
An Essex Police spokesman said: "We were called to reports of a collision on the A120 near Marks Tey at 9.05am on Tuesday, December 18 involving a lorry and a van.
"The driver of the van has been taken to hospital for treatment.
"If you have any information about the incident please call us on 101 quoting incident 265 of December 18."
One anonymous witness posted on Twitter with a warning for other drivers saying: "#A120 at Marks Tey road blocked avoid is possible", while another said: "Big accident on A120 at Marks Tey, avoid. Air Ambulance in attendance."
Highways England added: "The A120 is blocked in both directions near Marks Tey due to a traffic collision and spillage, with Essex Police on scene."
The crash affected traffic on the A120 along with both the Coggeshall and Marks Tey areas, so drivers experienced heavy delays.
The A13
A 'five-vehicle pile up' on the A13 westbound partially blocked the road causing long delays for motorists.
Police, fire and ambulance crews rushed to the accident on the A132 at South Mayne near the Pitsea Flyover earlier today just before 12.00am and closed off two lanes.
Witnesses from the scene claimed that four cars and a lorry were involved in the collision.
It is thought two fire engines, a fire rescue car, three police vehicles and two ambulances attended, before more joined the scene.
Shocking footage later emerged showing the wreckage after the 'pile up' which showed a large amount of police, ambulance and fire with fire crews gathered around the vehicles involved.
The front of one of the vehicles was severely damaged which had spun around to face the passing traffic.
Traffic was extremely busy as a result and motorists were stuck in miles of queues.
The M25 and the Dartford Crossing
An earlier broken down vehicle blocked the Dartford Tunnel and caused all traffic to be briefly held at the tunnel entrance earlier today at around 4.20pm.
The incident happened at junction 31 at Thurrock near Lakeside and caused congestion back to junction 4 at Orpington.
Highways England confirmed: "Both tunnels at the Dartford Crossing, A282, Dartford are blocked due to a broken down vehicle just prior to entry into the tunnels, recovery is on route to scene. Hope to get vehicle moved and carriageway moving ASAP."
Lanes one, two and three of four on the M25 were closed following the breakdown after the Dartford tunnels which happened just north of the river near junction 31.
The road was blocked at the tunnels to stop vehicles being stuck in the tunnel.
All lanes reopened and traffic was released at 5.00pm after the car broke down with a gearbox issue but there were still heavy delays with the travel time set at two hours.
At around 5.30pm however, M25 traffic was thrown into chaos again after another vehicle broke down on the M25 clockwise on the Dartford Bridge blocking one lane.
Traffic officers made their way to the scene to move the vehicles, but around six miles of queues began to build meaning that both sides of the M25 near the Dartford Crossing were gridlocked during rush-hour this evening.
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