TWELVE people were injured in two crashes on the M4 yesterday evening, causing rush-hour chaos around Newport.

And a Gwent Police spokesman blamed "rubber neckers" for causing the second crash. The spokesman said: "At 5.15pm there was a minor accident on the eastbound carriageway between High Cross and Malpas.

"It was just a rear-end shunt involving three cars. But then there was a more serious crash on the westbound carriageway as people were rubber necking and not concentrating."

A total of 12 people with what police say were minor injuries were taken to Newport's Royal Gwent Hospital and the University Hospital of Wales, in Cardiff. A spokeswoman for the South Wales Fire Brigade said: "We were called to a crash involving six cars on the westbound carriageway as a crew was clearing three cars from the other carriageway. Two people were cut from their vehicles."