Motorists suffered long delays on the M5 and surrounding roads in the Burnham-On-Sea area on Wednesday following a tanker crash that completely closed the motorway.
Highways England re-opened the M5 southbound cariageway at junction 23 at 6pm on Wednesday evening, but the northbound cariageway didn’t re-open until early on Thursday morning after resurfacing work was completed.
It comes after an oil tanker overturned on the northbound carriageway of the M5 at junction 23 at 9am, spilling 1,000 litres of kerosene, resulting in closures in both directions.
A huge clean-up operation took place with fears that some of the kerosene may have entered a waterway next to the motorway, which the Environment Agency investigated.
The lorry driver suffered bruises and was left shocked but was otherwise unhurt in the accident, which was reportedly caused by a tyre blow-out.
A police spokesman told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “We were called at just before 9am after a tanker carrying kerosene overturned just before the slip-road at junction 23 northbound.”
“The top of the tanker split and kerosene spilt onto the carriageway.”
“There were full closures in place at junction 23 southbound (Bridgwater) and junction 24 northbound (Huntworth/Bridgwater).”
“We’re working with our colleagues in the other emergency services at the scene and the remainder of the fuel will need to be removed from the tanker before it can be recovered.”
A fire service spokesman added: “Hazardous materials officers from the Fire Service have also attended the scene. The tanker had 6,500 litres of kerosene on board, and a significant amount of this had leaked from the vehicle.”
“Fire crews set to work using compressed air foam to cover the leaked fuel, and used environmental protection packs to block nearby drains to restrict the spread of the leak.”
