Why were drivers stuck on M5 near Wellington after crash?

This was because National Highways had to undertake emergency resurfacing works on a stretch of the motorway after a crash left an oil spill on the road.

The crash occurred at around 2.30am on the Saturday morning and involved a lorry and a car.

The oil was left on a single lane on the motorway but as is National Highways protocol they needed to resurface the road.

To be specific, the collision left an oil spill on the section of the M5 between J27 and J26 northbound.

As always happens with an incident like this, the first port of call or priority is given to emergency services.

Devon and Somerset Fire Service, South West Ambulance Service, Avon and Somerset Police and Devon and Cornwall Police all attended the scene.

A spokesperson for the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) said: “We were called at 02.38hrs on Saturday 10 September to a road traffic collision on the M5 northbound.

"We sent a double-crewed land ambulance, an operations officer and a hazardous area response team.

"We conveyed one patient to the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital by land ambulance.”

Devon and Cornwall Police who helped National Highways deal with the incident told the County Gazette there were no serious injuries.

A spokesperson said: "Devon and Cornwall Police assisted National Highways with an incident on the M5 that involved a car and a lorry.

"There were no serious injuries and the scene is now in the hands of National Highways."

Once the emergency services were finished with the scene National Highways took over and began to get the resurfacing works underway.

"After police completed their collision investigation, the carriageway surface was inspected due to a large oil spill caused by the collision. It was found that damage has been caused to the carriageway and a large section needs to be resurfaced," they said.

"As a result, the closure is expected to remain in place until at least late afternoon."

A diversion was eventually put in place but at that point, cars were already stuck and waiting there for more than three hours.

However, at approximately 2pm, the slip lane had to be closed to allow for the traffic that caused to clear.

National Highways confirmed the J28 slip road had also been closed.

Drivers stuck in the slip road or on the diversion were left there for over 90 minutes waiting. Not anywhere near as long as the initial drivers on the motorway.

Those initial cars remained stuck in place as the resurfacing works would take more than eight hours from that point.

This meant that in total, the drivers were stuck for in excess of ten hours, some longer.

At 9.09pm, National Highways said: "The emergency resurfacing works are complete and the M5 northbound is now open between J27 Tiverton and J26 Taunton.

"Thank you for your patience, please have a safe onward journey."

Some 17 hours after the initial crash occurred.

On social media, drivers that were stuck expressed their upset over the situation.

"We’ve been stuck 4 hours here, it’s insane. Why is the traffic not moving," one posted in reply to National Highways.

A young family said: "We can really see you are trying your hardest to get the road open again Left Perranporth at 10am still not at junction 27 with a 7month old baby in the back and 50miles left in the tank."

Another group posted: "What a shambles. Very poor communication, no signs saying that you must get off motorway. 7 hours stuck! Why hasn't this been sorted by now. This happened early hours this morning."

Kerry Whitehouse even suggested an alternative way of dealing with the issue.

She said: "Can someone answer why you couldn't open up a section of the north bound carriageway to release the traffic or open up a slip road onto the M5 for traffic to turn back onto surrounding roads?

"Because seven hours stuck was inhumane. Someone will die one day stuck in that."

In fairness to her, it did seem an unusually long wait for the resurfacing works.

The delay for resurfacing works is now up there with one of the longest on UK roads, rivalling one of the worst on record which occurred in August 2017.

Then, drivers were jammed on the M5 Northbound by Junction 20 as the traffic tailed back 35 miles at the peak, and the jam lasted 15 hours.