These were the dramatic scenes on the M5 near Burnham-On-Sea on Thursday morning (December 4th) after a lorry overturned, causing long tailbacks of commuter traffic.
Two lanes of the southbound carriageway between junction 22 and 23 were closed from 6.30am as police and Highways Agency staff dealt with the incident.
The accident also led to long queues of traffic through Highbridge on the A38 with gridlock in the town centre.
Fire spokesman Paul Slavin told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “One fire engine from Burnham and one from Bridgwater were mobilised at 6.35am to a report of an articulated lorry overturned on the motorway.”
“On arrival, the crews found that this was an empty lorry on its side, blocking two lanes of the motorway. No persons were trapped, and approximately 100 litres of diesel had leaked into the storm drains. Crews made the vehicle and the area safe, before leaving the incident in the hands of the police.”
A spokesman for Gregory Distribution Limited, which owns the lorry, told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “I am pleased to report that the driver was unharmed. The incident was caused by extreme crosswinds in the area which literally blew our vehicle over. ”
