IT'S 11.35am and one of my colleagues has just arrived in the office from her home in Northwich.

She set off this morning at 7.45am - the traffic, which ever way you came, was queuing from Northwich right up to Stretton roundabout.

And she wasn't the only one. Another colleague travelling from Salford still hasn't made it in and has phoned to say if it's OK he'll take it as a day's holiday - not very relaxing but he's obviously lost the will to live.

Welcome to hell - Warrington when one of the motorways is closed.

This time the M6 - closed in both directions at Thelwall Viaduct after seven lorries were toppled over in the gales.

And if you were coming from the other direction, the Runcorn and Widnes bridge was closed after several lorries overturned there.

I appreciate that the weather is severe so this nightmare is extreme, but even so, our town really does suffer when there is any sort of motorway problems.

So why didn't the Highways Agency close the Thelwall Viaduct to high-sided vehicles in the early hours of yesterday?

The high winds were forecast, we all knew what was likely, so why wait for lorries to be blown over before taking some action?

If the Highways Agency had shut the motorway to lorries only then at least the traffic would have been able to move more freely.

And surely any HGV driver worth his salt would heed the high winds weather warning and avoid the Thelwall Viaduct like the plague?

It's obvious they are more at risk - it's not rocket science is it?

Apart from the chaos it causes locally - even to those of us who live near to work, the cost to businesses must be immense.

If our office is anything to go by then presumably there will have been hundreds of workers several hours late for work this morning, losing companies thousands of pounds.

So while the M6 remains closed, I'm staying put in the office!