A MAN plunged to his death from a bridge and was hit by a lorry causing gridlock in the area last Thursday.

Stephen Henocq, 40, from Walthamstow, was hit by the lorry after he went over the bridge in Hale End Road at 2.45am, in what police believe was a possible suicide.

The lorry was travelling towards the Crooked Billet Roundabout on the southbound carriageway of the North Circular Road.

The shocked driver called police, who closed of the section of road from the Crooked Billet to the Waterworks roundabouts for eight and a half hours while they investigated.

Rush hour traffic ground to a halt throughout Redbridge and Waltham Forest as motorists tried to take other routes. Up to 80,000 cars travel along that stretch of the A406 at peak times.

The gridlock continued until police reopened the road at 11.15am after the lorry had been taken away.

Detective Inspector Gerry Campbell from Chingford CID, who is leading the inquiry, said: "The death of any person is a serious incident, the circumstances of which must always be robustly investigated to establish what happened.

"The road was closed for as long as it was so that we could do our best."

This is the second incident of this kind on the A406 in recent months.

In July another man died when he leapt from a barrier above the North Circular Road near Charlie Brown's roundabout and was hit by a car. He had first tried to ram his car through the barrier and failed.

PC Clive Treacher from the Chadwell Heath traffic police, who regularly deals with accidents on the A406, says that this type of incident cannot be avoided.

He explained: "If people are going to kill themselves they will do it one way or another.

"The problem is the widespread psychological impact it has on the people who hit them or who see them fall, and the effect it has on the people they leave behind."

Police are appealing for witnesses; if you saw the incident call DS Colin Sims on 8345 3166.

By.Susana Mendona