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A giant swarm of bees brought chaos to rush-hour traffic in Greenwich as startled onlookers scurried for cover.

Commuters were halted in their tracks and traffic slowed as the buzzing swarm filled the air on Greenwich Church Street, close to the famous Greenwich market, in south-east London on Tuesday evening.

Videos shared on social media show people stopping to watch the scene in front of them, while others ducked to avoid the insects.

Abigail Hering, who runs the nearby Beadoir jewellery shop, posted footage of the spectacle on Twitter, describing it as "absolutely crazy".

She told the Press Association she could initially hear an "underlying hum", adding: "It was just literally swarming, above the cars around the one way system."

The buzzing swarm was there for at least an hour and people's reactions ranged from laughs to screams, Ms Hering said.

She added: "When I left work, I went to walk towards my car, they were on the traffic lights. Millions of them on the traffic lights. And then at that point they'd come lower so they were actually buzzing around the people.

"And while I was videoing them I looked down and I could see literally the front of me covered in bees. They were on me. They were on everybody. They were in your hair, on your top."

Another Twitter user posted an image of a black vehicle parked up in the middle of the junction to remove the bees in a yellow crate.

TFL Traffic News posted a photograph of bees resting on traffic lights, and wrote: "Greenwich #Beetime The pedestrian crossing on Greenwich one way system is partially obstructed by bees. Please approach with caution."