RUSH hour motorists had a miraculous escape after an eight-vehicle pile-up on the M5 at Worcester today.

Three articulated lorries, a minibus carrying farm workers and a flatbed van were all involved in the accident, which caused the closure of the entire southbound carriageway for around 40 minutes between Junction 4A and Junction 5.

Ambulance crews expressed their shock that no-one was badly hurt in the multi-vehicle collision, which happened at around 7.20am and caused lengthy delays for motorists throughout the morning.

Paramedic Neil Musgrove said: "When I saw the damage I was expecting many serious injuries.

"There were at least eight vehicles involved in the crash.

"There was wreckage in lanes one and three of the motorway, and the minibus in particular had extensive damage.

"In the past I have arrived at vehicles with less damage and found patients with multiple injuries. Today, thankfully, no-one was hurt.

"We assessed everyone at the scene, and apart from a couple of minor bumps and bruises, no-one required hospital treatment.

"This had the potential to be a very significant incident - thankfully it was not."

The accident caused traffic chaos across the north of the county this morning, with some commuters reporting delays of up to two-and-a-half hours.

One lane remained closed on the M5's southbound carriageway until after 9am, and the long tailbacks had a knock-on effect on many other major roads throughout the morning.

Father-of-two Mark Chandler told your Worcester News he had been delayed for well over two hours on his daily commute from Wolverhampton to Worcester.

"It was a massive delay, the worst I've been caught up in in a long time," he said. "I set off for work at 7am and didn't get in until nearly 10.30am. I'm not the sort of person who gets upset in traffic jams, but you could see other people getting really upset.

"It certainly looked like a nasty shunt. But it seems like there have been about six or seven crashes on that stretch of motorway in the past six or seven weeks - maybe they need some extra signs warning people to take care."