The Tuesday morning commute was hit with delays of up to an hour northbound between Chilton and the Milton Interchange for Didcot.

There was a crash on the northbound side just past the Milton entry with traffic stopped by Highways Agency officials.

Thames Valley Police was also called to help resolve the incident.

One frustrated motorist heading northbound towards Oxford said the delays meant he was 30 minutes late to work.

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“What’s most frustrated is the officers will rush to the crash and put out cones rather than move the vehicles blocking the road,” the anonymous motorist said.

“Once it’s established everybody is okay, the focus should be shifted to moving the accident to the side of the road so everybody else can get on with their lives.”

Although the crash, which happened at around 7.30am, had been cleared by 9am, the tailbacks were significant.

A spokesperson for National Highways said at the time: “Traffic is stopped on the A34 in Oxfordshire in both directions between A4130 Milton and A415 Abingdon due to a traffic collision.”

“There are delays in excess of 54 minutes on the approach to the area,” the agency said before traffic returned to normal at about 10am.

Oxfordshire County Council had warned drivers to “approach with caution and consider alternative routes”.

That is the warning issued by consumer group Which? following an investigation into USB phone chargers available from major retailers.

The watchdog purchased 15 chargers from seven online marketplaces and subjected them to safety testing.

It found that nine chargers, sourced from Amazon Haul, AliExpress, B&Q Marketplace, Debenhams Marketplace, and eBay, were so poorly made that they posed a risk of electric shock.

Eight of the nine also presented fire and explosion hazards.

Phone chargers pose “fatal” risk to users

Sue Davies, head of consumer protection policy at Which?, said: “Badly designed electricals like these can have life-altering – even fatal – consequences.

“Online marketplaces have known about the danger of knock-off chargers for the better part of a decade, but consumers continue to be placed at risk.

“The Government must urgently use the new powers it has under the Product Regulation and Metrology Act to update product safety legislation and impose a clear legal duty on online marketplaces for ensuring the safety of products sold through their third-party sellers, with tough enforcement for those that fall short.

“By making online marketplaces legally responsible for unsafe products, the Government can set a world-leading standard for product safety in the digital age.”

The safety flaws that make these chargers illegal

All 15 chargers in the investigation were missing key information on the packaging, the charger itself, or in the documentation provided.

This omission alone makes them illegal to sell in the UK.

Further testing revealed more serious safety flaws.

One charger, sold on eBay for £11.99 and labelled as an ‘Apple’ USB-C 35W power adaptor, was identified as a dangerous counterfeit.

Which? testers heard arcing noises – a sign of electrical current jumping between circuit components – just 10 seconds into an electrical strength test.

This could potentially lead to electric shock, fire, or explosion.

Upon opening the device, researchers found a lump of modelling clay inside.

It appeared to be used to add weight and make the fake product feel more authentic.

Which? researchers found a lump of modelling clay inside one phone charger (pictured). (Image: Which/PA Wire)

One customer who bought the charger posted on the listing to say that it had ‘overloaded and ruined’ their iPad and phone, both of which had stopped charging.

Two unbranded chargers purchased from eBay for £2.10 and £2.80 were also found to be significant safety hazards, with risks of fire, explosion, and electrocution.

Amazon’s low-cost platform, Amazon Haul, sold a £6.99 USB-C charger that failed electrical safety tests and was found to be a shock and fire risk.

A £10.99 2-1 Super Fast Charger from B&Q Marketplace failed similarly, presenting a threat of explosion, fire, or electric shock.

A £9.99 Dual Port 35W charger from Debenhams Marketplace was weighted with modelling clay and failed all safety tests.

Two AliExpress chargers costing £1.30 and £5.69 were also found to pose risks of explosion, electric shock, and fire.

While chargers bought from Temu and Shein passed electrical safety checks, they lacked required UK importer details and other legally mandated markings.

Chief executive of Electrical Safety First, Lesley Rudd, said: “Counterfeiting is a very intentional act.

“The driving force is often solely about maximising profit and, in doing so, cutting corners on safety.

“Our own research into counterfeit Apple chargers found criminals filling them with metal weights to mimic the feel of genuine products.

“This introduced a serious risk of electric shock.

“Whilst we welcome the Government’s initial plans to regulate online marketplaces, a clear and legal duty of care must be placed upon those companies.

“This must be backed by robust enforcement and meaningful penalties that reflect the very real risks millions of UK shoppers are exposed to every day.”

All retailers involved stated that they prioritised customer safety, and the listings have been removed (either proactively or in response to Which?’s investigation).

Have you purchased a fake or dangerous charger from a major retailer recently? Let us know in the poll above or in the comments below.

The watch going under the hammer was presented to 19th century politician Cecil Rhodes whose statue at Oriel College in Oxford attracted criticism due to his imperialist exploits.

The College installed an explanatory plaque which described Mr Rhodes as a “committed British colonialist” who had “obtained his fortune through exploitation of minerals, land and peoples of southern Africa”.

Mr Rhodes was a student at Oriel and left the college £100,000 when he died in 1902.

READ MORE: Calls to remove Oxford College Cecil Rhodes monument

The Cecil Rhodes statue in High Street

Now, a watch linked to Mr Rhodes is expected to fetch hundreds of pounds.

The Dent travelling watch, housed in its original wooden case, is accompanied by a handwritten note stating that it was presented to Mr Rhodes by Sir Charles Metcalfe, consulting engineer on the Cape-to-Cairo Railway project.

The note reads: “This watch was bought by the late Sir Charles Metcalfe, consulting engineer for the Cape to Cairo Railway. Sir Charles presented it to Cecil Rhodes. It was always put in Mr Rhodes’s travelling dispatch box.”

Mr Rhodes remains one of the defining and most controversial figures of the British Empire.

Having made a vast fortune through the South African diamond industry and the De Beers mining empire, he became Prime Minister of Cape Colony and pursued his dream of a British-controlled railway stretching from Cape Town to Cairo.

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William John Young’s biography (Image: Hanson Auctioneers)

The territory of Rhodesia – now Zimbabwe and Zambia – was named after him.

In his last will, he provided for the establishment of the international Rhodes Scholarship at the University of Oxford, the oldest graduate scholarship in the world.

The watch itself was made by Dent of London, a clock and watchmakers and the firm associated with the mechanism of Big Ben at the Palace of Westminster.

The timepiece was acquired by Mr Rhodes’s assistant and travelling companion, William John Young, whose remarkable memoirs describe the final days of the empire builder.

The watch was consigned for sale by Mr Young’s grandson who also lives locally and remembered his grandfather as a “very smart and upright man”.

While not wishing to be named he hoped the watch would be sold to someone who appreciated its historic worth.

The Dent travelling watch (Image: Hanson Auctioneers)

More than a century after his death, his legacy continues to provoke debate because of his role in colonial expansion and racial segregation in southern Africa.

Oriel College set up an independent commission in 2021 for the statue honouring Rhodes’ memory and this recommended the statue’s removal and the plaque in the city.

The College’s plaque acknowledged that “some of his activities led to great loss of life and attracted criticism in his day and ever since”.

The watch, along with a photo of Mr Young, and a typewritten copy of his memoir have an estimate of £800 to £1,000 at Holloways, part of the Hansons Auctioneers umbrella, in Banbury on June 17.