Was just near the end of my shift getting back from Launceton, approaching J15 of the M6 for Stoke at 22.45, when I passed Stafford msa and was driving up the drag before J15 I thought there was a distinct lack of s/b traffic. As I went over the rise before the drop to the exit, I saw an artic across all three lanes on the s/b side and traffic starting to build up behind, it must have happened minutes earlier.
There were bits if debris in the n/b lanes so it must have been some smash. A few minutes later I was on the A500 and police and ambulances were already on the way.
I have heard nothing this morning yet as to what happened but I think there must have been a delay for most of the night.
I came up from London at 5:30 this morning but always get off at Jct14 and run up through Stone so I didn’t notice the southbound being quiet but the A34 was noticeably busy with traffic coming towards me. I asked in the office if there was a problem and apparently we’d had a driver stuck northbound for 5 hours sometime in the night!
Also heard that the police had made the HA open Jct16 & 17 (usually closed for roadworks) as the southbound queues were so bad.