A broken down tanker has caused traffic chaos in a town centre this morning.

Tim Lambkin runs Travel Masters school bus company taking around 1,600 children from Sheppey to Sittingbourne a day.

He says the first school bus left the Island at 6.30am and hit traffic at the Key Street roundabout which was gridlocked due to queues along London Road.

It comes after officers were called to a broken-down tanker on the one-way system at West Street in Sittingbourne at 6.53am.

It is understood delays are ongoing but it is not known if the vehicle has been recovered.

Tim said: “It’s caused absolute havoc this morning, a number of buses are running late with students.

“The last one is just getting to school now, so they are an hour late.

“For one driver it took them five minutes to go 100 yards on the approach to Key Street.

“It’s a massive knock-on effect for everyone and it’s just a nightmare.”

Because of the delays Tim says the planned routes are an hour behind schedule and will take most of the day to catch up. He says the relevant schools have been made aware of the delays.

But he says this isn’t an isolated incident and that gridlock like this is happening regularly.

He said: “When something like this happens it all grinds to a halt.”

The traffic is also impacted by the closure of the coastbound M2 following an accident between Junction 5 for Sittingbourne and Junction 6 for Faversham since about 8.10pm last night.