A FOUR-vehicle crash on the M1 led to long delays after parts of the road were closed for almost five hours yesterday.
Police were called to the scene of the smash – involving two lorries, a car and a van – at around noon. It happened on the northbound carriageway between junctions 25 (Sandiacre) and 26 (Nuthall) .
The driver of one lorry was airlifted to the Queen's Medical Centre with serious but non-life-threatening injuries after the air ambulance landed on the closed stretch of the road.
The road did not fully reopen until 5pm, leading to severe delays, not just on the motorway but across the city as motorists opted for alternative routes.
Among those affected was Helen Smith, 43, of Beeston, who was almost an hour late picking up her children from their after-school club.
"I was coming from junction 28 in Alfreton, where I work, to pick up the kids from the Roundabout Out Of School Club, at Roundhill Primary School, in Beeston.
"The traffic on the M1 was quite smooth because drivers were being directed to get off the motorway.
"I got off at junction 26 at about 5.15pm but it took me more than an hour to get to Beeston from there, because the road was gridlocked."
Ms Smith took the A6002 and Wollaton Vale to get to Beeston – a journey which normally takes around 20 minutes.
"It's not what you want on a Friday afternoon," she said.
"Leaving the kids waiting until 6.15pm, when I normally pick them up at 5.30pm, wasn't great, but they were actually quite excited because I wasn't the last person to arrive.
"There was someone else who was even later."
Jam-packed roads also meant delays for buses across the county. Pat Douglas, 70, was waiting for the Nottingham City Transport number 48 bus to take her from Clifton, where she lives, into Nottingham city centre, where she works. "The bus didn't arrive," Mrs Douglas said. "It must have been stuck in all the traffic on the A453.
"We didn't get into town until 6.15pm – almost an hour later than usual. It was very annoying and no one told us what was going on."
People also took to Twitter to voice their frustration.
Michael Johnson wrote, under the account @jonsarno: "M1 junction 25 is like Asda car park night before Christmas, it's chocca".
Another Twitter user, @BELIEBERSGANG, wrote: "Completely stuck on the M1 northbound; accident earlier caused junction 25 (my junction) to be completely closed."
