THE closure of the M5 led to traffic chaos around Worcster as motorists looked for alternative routes through the county.

Motorists faced delays of up to three hours, and there were tailbacks of four or five miles into the city for much of yesterday, after the crash between two lorries closed the southbound carriageway and one northbound lane between junctions 7, Worcester south, and 8, the M50.

Emily Bridgewater, of Webheath, near Redditch, took three hours to get into her workplace in Worcester. She said: "I left home at nine to get into work at ten. I got onto the M5 at Droitwich and it was fine just before junction six.

"Then we didn't move for about an hour-and-a-half. There is not a lot you can do in a situation like that though, you just have to wait patiently. Once you are on the motorway, it is very difficult to get off."

Steve Carley, of Westbury Avenue, Droitwich, took an hour-and-a-half to complete a journey that usually takes 20 minutes. The Worcester News sports writer wandered into office to rounds of applause after finally getting into work.

He said: "It took me more than an hour to get to the old toll house in Barbourne, and then after that it was plain sailing through The Tything, Castle Street, and down Hylton Road, which, ironically, is usually the busiest part of the journey."

The Droitwich Road Service Station, on one of the main routes into Worcester, benefited from the delays as people actually stopped to have a coffee and something to eat while they waited for the traffic to clear.

John Moss, assistant manager, said: "The traffic was absolutely terrible. In the morning, it just wasn't moving. By the afternoon, it had improved a bit and vehicles were moving along - although at not much more than crawling pace." A spokeswoman for Claines pharmacy painted a similar picture for the Ombersley Road coming into the city centre.

She said: "The traffic was all the way up to the Claines roundabout and while it was really bad in the morning, by the afternoon there was a steady stream."

It wasn't only commuters in and out of Worcester who were affected though. The A46 was solid between Evesham and Tewkesbury during the morning rush hour. It also affected the M50, slowing traffic between the West Midlands and Gloucestershire.

A spokeswoman for the Highways Agency said lanes two and three of the southbound carriageway of the M5 had re-opened just after 1pm yesterday. Lane one, where the accident happened, had to be resurfaced and was due to reopen yesterday evening.