Motorway incidents lead to traffic chaos

THERE were traffic hold-ups in Warrington, Frodsham and Runcorn this morning following two separate incidents on the M56.
A car was seriously damaged by fire on the hard shoulder of the eastbound carriageway between Junctions 12 and 14 and fire crews used a hose reel jet to extinguish the outbreak. They also used a thermal imaging camera to check the vehicle for further hot spots. There were no reports of injuries.
Ten minutes later there was a four-vehicle collision on the westbound carriageway, also between junctions 12 and 14. No-one was trapped in any of the vehicles and firefighters moved all of them onto the hard shoulder.
Police were at the scene, controlling traffic.
The delays led to many motorists leaving the motorway, causing congestion on roads in Warrington, Frodsham and Runcorn which persisted for some time.