ALL lanes have been cleared on the M4 after three crashes caused congestion- but traffic bulit up to nine miles elsewhere.

 UPDATE: Traffic now back to normal on M4 and A419

Traffic began to flow smoothly again on the motorway after a trio of road traffic collisions caused 45-minute tailbacks eastbound between Junctions 15 and 14 from 6.20am to 9.30am this morning.

This had a major knock-on effect for roads merging onto the motorway. The A419 is jammed with nine miles of traffic southbound along Marlborough Road to Junction 15 with delays of at least an hour.

A Wiltshire Police spokeswoman said: "We were called to three road traffic collisions in a short space of time on the same stretch of the motorway.

"The first was at 6.20am, the second was at 7am and the third happened at 7.50am. This caused lots of traffic in the area while highways officers cleared the road."

Ambulance and fire crews raced to the scene.

A South West Ambulance Trust spokeswoman said: "We were called at 06:25 to reports of a road traffic collision, reportedly involving two vehicles.

"We attended with an ambulance and an operations officer. It has been reported that the patients were treated at the scene.

"We were called at 07:12 to reports of a road traffic collision, reportedly involving two vehicles.

"We attended with an ambulance and an operations officer. One patient has been taken to hospital for further treatment."