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A young driver experienced an unexpectedly long ordeal after passing her driving test, finding herself stuck on the M25 for eight hours. The disruption began early on Thursday morning at 05:30 BST, when a collision occurred near Lakeside Shopping Centre in Grays, Essex. This incident led to significant traffic jams, as the motorway remained closed until 20:40 due to complications from an oil spill that required resurfacing a quarter of a mile of the road. The hot weather further slowed cooling efforts.
Beatrix, a 17-year-old from Romford, east London, was on a short journey that turned into a lengthy, frustrating wait in the traffic. She was driving with her cousin when both their phones died, leaving them reliant on road signs for directions. “I’ve never driven on the M25… so, that was very scary,” she shared. Despite the challenging situation, she believed her driving instructor would have approved of her performance. The temperature reached 29°C (84.2°F) in Grays, and passengers in the gridlock struggled with the intense heat and lack of food or water in their cars. Beatrix also mentioned her parents were anxious because they had no way to track her location or know when she would return home.
For others, the delays were similarly hard to endure. Rosie Potter, a 29-year-old civil servant, faced an ordeal turning what should have been a 60-minute drive from Lakeside to Colchester into a grueling nine-hour journey. Leaving the retail car park at 13:30, she only made it home by 23:00. The prolonged wait caused considerable distress as the evening approached; she worried about being stranded overnight without essentials, noting the shortage of water, food, and restroom access. She also highlighted the plight of families with young children caught in the jam without supplies.
Many drivers sought refuge at the Thurrock service station car park but found themselves trapped there as well. Journalist Sara Tidy described a scene with “literally hundreds of cars” where people tried to pass the time—children even played tennis, while a band prepared to perform outside Norwich was unable to leave. She also recounted a woman becoming anxious over needing her medication. National Highways acknowledged the scale of the disruption and stated that a review of their incident response would be conducted
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