SKY
Updated: 19:15, Saturday February 25, 2006
Hundreds of travellers have missed flights and others were trapped in four-hour traffic jams after an accident closed a motorway.
Essex Police warned that the busy section of the M11 between London and Stansted Airport would not reopen until tomorrow morning.
Tailbacks had stretched for eight miles at one stage.
The chaos was made worse because the Stansted Express train from London to the airport had been cancelled for track maintenance.
Firefighters ordered the motorway closure in both directions after a recovery van, containing potentially dangerous gas cylinders, caught fire.
The vehicle had been sent to assist a lorry which broke down, near Junction 6, just after 5.30am.
A Stansted Airport spokesman estimated less than 500 people had missed their flights but accepted some may have to wait several days before reaching their destinations.
He said: "We have still got passengers turning up late and missing their flights ... they are queuing up at the ticket desks to get rebooked on later flights."
