MOTORISTS were delayed on the A31 this afternoon due to a large amount of military vehicles on the move.

A spokesperson for Hampshire Police said traffic queues were backed up to Ashley Heath as a result of the large tanks travelling slowly eastbound from Ringwood.

They expected the delays to be over by around 3pm.

The police didn’t have any information about where the vehicles were travelling from or to.

An Army spokesperson said she could not confirm where the troops were moving to or coming from but suggested it could be movement to or from the Ministry of Defence-owned land at Salisbury Plain.

Earlier today, the British army conducted its largest virtual battle simulation, involving 220 soldiers at the Army's Land Warfare Centre in Warminster, Wiltshire.

The spokesperson said she could not confirm whether the vehicles were returning from this exercise.

The two-hour scenario saw soldiers on computers completing virtual missions in a fictional French town.