M25 Crash Causes 8-Hour Gridlock, Leaving Drivers Stranded

A teenager who was driving for the first time after passing her test ended up stuck on the M25 for eight hours. A crash near Lakeside Shopping Centre in Grays, Essex, at 05:30 BST on Thursday caused huge delays, with the road not reopening until 20:40 due to multiple complications. National Highways said about a quarter of a mile (400m) of road needed resurfacing after an oil spill, and cooling was slowed down by the hot weather. For Beatrix, a 20-minute journey with her relative ended up being a long wait in gridlock, but despite the pressure she said her driving instructor would have been impressed with her performance. The 17-year-old, from Romford, east London, said: "It was me and my cousin in the car and both of our phones died. So, we didn't really know how to get back and we were following road signs. "I've never driven on the M25... so, that was very scary." Lakeside to Colchester usually takes less than an hour in the car, but for Rosie Potter it was more than nine hours. The 29-year-old civil servant left the retail car park at 13:30 and staggered through her front door at 23:00. She recalled getting emotional and "a bit rattled" as the evening approached. "I thought, 'Oh no, am I gonna be stuck in my car overnight in the dark in an area that I don't really know very well?' "You can't sit there for eight, nine hours with your engine running and your aircon running. "There's no water. There's no access to any toilets. There's no food. There's nothing. There's nothing around. "There were people with babies that had literally nipped out to the shops and were then stranded for hours and had no milk, no bottles left for their children."