The A12 was closed at Hatfield Peverel for nearly an hour on Wednesday evening as police searched for a group of suspected illegal immigrants seen getting out of a lorry.

The road was shut shortly before 9pm as police started looking around the area for the people seen leaving the lorry.

The National Police Air Service helicopter from nearby Boreham was called in to help the search and it is understood a number of suspects were rounded up.

Drivers were frustrated at having to stop and many of them left their cars to try to see what was happening in the gathering evening gloom.

The area was eventually cleared after some of the suspects were detained and the road was reopened to traffic later in the evening.

Some drivers took to social media to express their frustration at the delay while others posted images of the helicopter in the fast-descending gloom.