It's Friday and, just as rush hour hits, a lorry load of fizzy drinks has exploded, going up in smoke and causing traffic chaos on the busy M1. The fire crew have extinguished the fire, and Highways England have completely shut the motorway to clear the burnt-out wreck. But nothing's too hot to handle for the Crouch team: incident manager Steve co-ordinates the clear-up and op Mark is on hand with his low-loader in this pressurized situation. A 44-tonne artic has veered off a tiny country lane and is well and truly stuck in the mud. With hardly enough room to swing a cat, let alone his recovery vehicle, Lee takes his chances and uses a single cable winch out to pull the beast out of its muddy grave. Over in Hertfordshire, recovery op Michael is also bogged down with a problem. A tractor unit and trailer delivering a container onto a rugby pitch can't find its footing in the mud. It's the first winch-out with Michael's new truck, so he's got to be on the ball to get it out — especially as it's his ex-boss! On the last job of his shift, 25-year-old Jordan's on a callout to clear a smashed-up electric car on a busy London through road. To shift it, he's forced to block a lane of traffic as rush hour peaks. But all attempts to get it off the road quick are going flat: Jordan can't find anywhere to attach his strop on the damaged front end, and sparks are flying as impatient drivers want to get home.

A serious blaze leaves a sewerage tanker stricken in a layby on the busy A1 motorway.