Officers from Essex Police have confirmed that the road is now re-opened after it had been shut for much of the early afternoon.

A collision involving multiple vehicles and a “significant” pothole both occurred on the southbound carriageway between J20B and J19 during the early afternoon of Saturday, April 6.

A spokesman for Essex Police said: “We were called to the scene at around 12.05pm this afternoon to reports of a two vehicle collision.

“There are no reports of injuries.”

It is currently unknown whether the incident and the pothole are linked, although both were on the same stretch of the road near to Hatfield Peverel.

Police had originally completely closed the road following both reports, with traffic diverted via Hatfield Peverel on the B1137 and then re-opened lane two while awaiting the arrival of road maintenance crews from Highways England.

The Essex Roads Policing Unit North also tweeted a picture of the pothole, saying: “@HighwaysEAST should be on scene shortly to repair the road surface.”

The unit has since confirmed that the pothole has been filled and lanes are re-opened.