Motorists stranded for hours after bomb scare closes Dartford Crossing

Thousands of motorists were stranded in their cars for around seven hours on Friday night after a bomb scare forced the closure of the Dartford Crossing in Kent - in both directions.

Police closed the Dartford Tunnel and the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge after officers found a suspicious item on the M25 and arrested a man who was seen behaving unusually.

The A20 was closed in Dover at around 4pm. Officers stopped a coach as part of their inquiries, and it was held on a retail estate surrounded by eight police vehicles.

It is thought the man behaving suspiciously had been on the coach, disembarking at the tolls.

He was arrested while Army bomb disposal teams investigated.

They said the item posed no threat and reopened all routes at around 11pm.

But some motorists had been stuck in their cars for seven hours in nine-mile queues.

According to the Daily Telegraph, people took to Twitter to talk about the incident. One user wrote: "Security incident at Dartford tnl. I came through there early and some foreign guy was running through the cars shouting at everyone."

The BBC reports that motorists said an Army bomb disposal vehicle, ambulances and emergency service vehicles all attended the scene.

One driver caught up in the chaos, Graeme Brouder, 36, from Twickenham, said he saw the man in question running off the bridge towards the tolls at 16.30 on Friday

Mr Brouder told the BBC: "He tried to get in the car next to me, he was shouting something - I had my windows up so I couldn't hear him.

"He was shouting at that car, tried to get in that car, ran past mine, tried my door handle, and then ran down the lane behind me and he was just shouting at everyone.

"He was running around, he was trying to get in everybody's cars."

Related articles

Brit who sparked bomb scare on flight is spared jail

1,400 people evacuated from Eiffel Tower after bomb scare