Harlow's Liberal Democrat spokesman Lorna Spenceley has written to the Highways Agency following the recent incident on the M11 between Junctions 7 and 8, asking a number of questions about the Agency's management of the incident. Mrs Spenceley says:

"I am concerned at comments I have received, about the extent to which traffic was allowed to build up, delays in implementing and signposting diversions and issuing radio traffic warnings, and lack of police and Highways Agency presence. It is reported that the incident occurred at 5:30am, but that it took six hours before Junction 8 was closed - time in which many thousands of travellers could have been diverted much earlier."

Mrs Spenceley has asked the agency why vehicles were still allowed onto the blocked section after the exit had been closed; why Agency staff were not able to lead vehicles back off the motorway, once it was clear they could not go down the road and exit normally; what contingency plans the Highways Agency is developing to prevent such extreme delays in future; what reports the Agency is planning to publish into the incident, and how these will be made available to interested parties and to the public.