Motorists gridlocked around Three Moorhens roundabout as big switch on goes ahead

Workers heading home and revellers making their way to Hitchin town centre this evening were caught in gridlock as police tried to clear the scene of a head-on collision between two cars on one of the town’s busiest junctions.

Hitchin Hill was closed after the collison just outside the Three Moorhens pub.

There were no indications of injuries to either driver as the scene was cleared.

But reports from the scene at 7pm, the scheduled time of the big switch on in Market place, described traffic as a nightmare.

Elswhere, crews from Hitchin fire station were called to tackle a fire on a bus at Offley.

All the passengers were safely evacuated by the time the firefighters arrived. They used hosereels to quell the blaze.