PART of a major North East A-road was closed for several hours this morning after a four car collision caused chaos on the road and led to a 30 minute backlog of traffic. 

Emergency services were called to the A19 northbound between A182 (Murton Interchange) to A690 Durham Road (Herrington Interchange) at around 7.45am after reports of a multiple vehicle crash.

According to Highways North East, six vehicles were involved in the incident, with one lane of the A19 closed to allow emergency crews to attend to the cars involved. 

Read more: LIVE: Crash on A19 near Sunderland leads to 30 minute congestion

A spokesperson for Highways North East said: "A19 northbound near Seaton between A1018/B1404 and A690. One lane is closed due to a collision involving six cars. There's just under four miles of congestion; approx. 20 minute delays. DurhamRPU are at scene."

However, they updated the incident at around 9.30am, saying: "All lanes are now open on the A19 northbound near Seaton, following an earlier collision involving six cars. There's just under three miles of congestion; adding 20 minutes to journey times."

Both Durham Police and Northumbria Police attended the scene, and issued seperate staements. 

A spokesperson for Northumbria Police said: "Shortly before 7.45am today (Friday), police received a report from Durham Constabulary of a collision on the A19 near Seaham.

"It was reported that four cars had been involved but no one had been injured.

"The road was partially blocked while the vehicles were recovered but has since fully opened and traffic is moving freely."

A spokesperson for Durham Police added: "Police were called shortly before 7.30am this morning (May 27) to reports of a four vehicle collision of the A19 near Seaham.

"It involved a Fiat 500, Hyundai I20, Toyota C-HR and a Hyundai sports.

"Thankfully, nobody was injured."

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