A large sinkhole appeared on a busy motorway, damaging cars and causing traffic chaos over the weekend.
The sinkhole opened on the M5 on Saturday, forcing two lanes to close between junction eight for the M50 interchange and junction nine in Strensham, Worcestershire.
National Highways contractors and specialists were dispatched to the site to do significant repairs, but warned drivers to expect an hour and two and a half mile traffic jams as the work was expected to continue throughout Saturday afternoon and well into the evening.
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Gloucestershire Police said on Saturday afternoon: “Lanes one and two are closed on the M5 NB carriageway between J9 to Tewkesbury and J8 to the M50 interchange.
“This is due to a hole in the second lane – several cars are damaged. This is likely to lead to delays / traffic jams – drivers are advised to look for alternative routes. “
Meanwhile, National Highways South-West said: “On the M5 northbound in Gloucestershire there are delays of over an hour, with two (out of three) lanes, due to emergency road surface repairs between J9 (Tewkesbury) and J8 (for the M50) are blocked. “
As if the travel chaos on the M5 wasn’t enough, more traffic jams were seen on the M4 after a car was completely wrecked when it caught fire on the hard shoulder.
The incident occurred on the west side of the motorway between Junction 14 to Hungerford and Junction 15 to Swindon on Saturday just before 3:30 p.m., which closed two lanes.
According to the Dorset and Wiltshire Fire Brigade, the driver managed to escape the fire, but pictures from the scene showed the severe congestion caused by the fire.
Both lanes were reopened around 5:40 p.m. and Newbury Fire Station confirmed no casualties were reported.
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