RUSH hour traffic was delayed on the A12...by a pensioner on a mobility scooter.

Cars travelling towards London were slowed to a near standstill between Stanway and Marks Tey shortly before 9am on Thursday morning.

Chris Hayter - the new Conservative councillor for St John's and St Anne's on Colchester Council - was driving to work when he noticed the unusual vehicle slowing up traffic.

He said: "It certainly took me a bit longer than usual to get to work this morning.

"It was between Tollgate and Marks Tey.

"It had a police escort to make sure it was moving safely.

"They were only travelling at roughly 8mph - it was a tiny little scooter.

"Things slowed right down and I didn't know what was happening.

"I peered around the dash and there was this scooter.

"The police came along and sheltered it from the traffic and made sure they were safely taken off at Marks Tey.

"You could see they had stopped and were talking to them to make sure everything is ok.

"Fortunately at that part of the road there is quite a long run off towards the junction.

"Thankfully, it seemed like they were not in too much danger.

"But it could have been worse, there are an awful lot of lorries on the road at that time in the morning."