Overview
- By Thursday morning, most major closures from earlier in the week had lifted with residual queues, but a vehicle fire closed two southbound lanes on the M61 near Rivington Services between junctions 8 and 6.
- A lorry carrying batteries and electrical appliances caught fire on the M5 northbound near Exeter between junctions 30 and 29, causing hours-long closure, delays of up to 120 minutes and advice for residents to keep windows shut as the Environment Agency was notified.
- In Cardiff, all eastbound traffic on the M4 was held between junctions 33 and 32 on Wednesday after a single-vehicle collision, and police said a man was taken to hospital in a condition not believed to be life-threatening.
- The M25 experienced fresh queues on Thursday between junctions 10 and 11 after a crash briefly halted traffic, following Tuesday’s separate stoppage for an overturned vehicle between junctions 18 and 19 that left delays of about an hour.
- Earlier incidents included a five-vehicle crash with two cars on fire on the M4 near Hungerford and the closure of the M48 Severn Bridge westbound after a collision involving a car and a motorcycle.