TRAFFIC jams on the M40 near Bicester have eased and queues down the A34 are easing, traffic reports say.

There was chaos on the roads earlier this evening after faulty traffic lights at junction 9 brought vehicles to a virtual standstill.

Queues were reported to stretch south from the M40 exit all the way to Abingdon and on the M40 southbound traffic was backed up to Banbury.

It came after a four-vehicle crash at noon between Bicester and Ardley also closed the carriageway while emergency services freed a woman in her 20s trapped in her car.

She was rushed to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford after sustaining injuries to her neck and back. They were not life-threatening, an ambulance service spokeswoman said.

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The closed section of M40 reopened at about 1pm, the Highways Agency said.

But the traffic light problems at junction 9 and a series of other knock-on effects combined to cause queues on the A34 to stretch back almost 14 miles south, to Abingdon.

A Highways Agency spokesman said: "What with it also being a Friday and the end of half term there is a significant amount of congestion.”

Engineers were sent to fix the lights, but by 5.30pm Thames Valley Police had switched them off. The junction is instead being operated as a non-signalised roundabout.