Lorries cause traffic delays in Colchester Road Halstead

At about 2pm on Monday, motorists were forced to stop and traffic piled up after two large lorries tried to pass each other in Colchester Road near the mini roundabout in the road.

John Potter was making his way into the town for an optician’s appointment when he took the photo while sat in traffic.

Tight squeeze - The two lorries trying to get past each other (Image: John Potter)

He said: “I was driving into town from the Earls Colne direction. I saw bit of a queue going up to the roundabout.

"A massive truck as big as the other one came the other way.

“It looked like wing mirror of one of the trucks was pressing into the other to get through.

“I think it must have been held up traffic for 40 or 50 minutes - nothing was moving.”

“It doesn’t happen all the time but when it does, it is a nightmare.

“It was frustrating really, because it was a five-minute trip into town but ended being more like an hour and a half.”

Narrow - A Google Street View image which shows the section of Colchester Road (Image: Google Maps)

Many residents took to social media to say a bypass is needed.

But Mr Potter believes that is not necessary as traffic normally “flows through perfectly”.

Speaking to the Halstead Gazette, town mayor Jackie Pell said: “I think a lot of it comes down to people’s awareness. If you can see a big lorry, you need to give way and have patience.

“The town council and Sudbury Council are lobbying for Essex and Suffolk county councils to improve the A131 which is only just off the area which was affected on Monday.

“The A131 is a strategic lorry route. If we could resolve some of the traffic by directing it onto the A131 that would help.

“The town council is trying to be proactive.

“We did widen the road by taking some of the churchyard wall out which we were allowed to, but we have to be respectful of the buried.

“I’ve lived here all my life. There are very few occurrences where this situation happens."