In the most serious, at the Lochlands junction on the southernmost section of the Forfar by-pass, a man was cut free by firefighters after being trapped in his van following a crash shortly before 8 am, which involved two lorries, the van and two cars.

The full extent of the freed driver’s injuries is not yet known, but they are not understood to be life threatening.

A pair of minor crashes occurred in the wake of the Lochlands incident as traffic built up on the route where visibility was severely cut.

One, near Forfar loch, involved a skip lorry, a van and a car. The other happened around 100 metres north of the Glamis junction and involved a van and a car, but police confirmed no-one was hurt in these two incidents.

Diversions were put in place at the A94 Glamis junction, with traffic re-routed via Douglastown.

Among those caught up in the delays was North Tayside MSP John Swinney, who reiterated concerns raised over the Lochlands junction after a fatal accident there earlier this month.

He said, “I have already raised this issue with ministers and will continue to put pressure on to make sure a remedy is put in place at Lochlands.”