Motorway closed after flour truck crash

By Gwen Ridler

- Last updated on GMT

A crash on the M5 spilt 24t of flour on the road, creating chaos for motorists
A crash on the M5 spilt 24t of flour on the road, creating chaos for motorists
Motorists were left stranded over the weekend, after a collision between a lorry and a caravan in the early hours of Saturday morning left 24t of flour strewn across the M5.

The crash was reported at about 4:30am near Gloucester, spilling the truck’s cargo and 200l of diesel across the southbound carriageway between junctions 14 and 15. The lorry ended on its side spread across lanes one and two.

The load of flour was being trans­ported to Weston-super-Mare for industrial disposal, according to Highways England. 

Avon & Somerset Police attended the scene, as well as fire and rescue and ambulance crews. Injuries had been reported at the scene, but were later confirmed to be not serious.

Injuries had been reported

The police posted an image of the overturned truck on their twitter page – see image below.

Work to move the caravan to the hard shoulder was completed by 5:00am, allowing one lane to be opened. The overturned lorry was cleared by 11:00am, by which time delays of 1.5 hours and seven miles of queues had been reported.

“By the mid-morning, oper­a­tions to jet wash ​[the road surface] had com­menced as the car and the car­a­van had been recov­ered clear. This allowed our con­trac­tors to start their impor­tant clean-up work,”​ said Highways England.

“The near­side bar­ri­ers had been dam­aged. There was a con­crete end block dis­lodged and there was also the con­cern for a resur­fac­ing oper­a­tion being very likely.”  

Closed again at midnight

After three lanes were opened around 8.30pm to release queued traffic, the M5 was closed again at midnight to allow full resurfacing of the damaged motorway before it was fully reopened around 6:00am on Sunday.

Meanwhile, a lorry transporting 25t of Lion chocolate bars was engulfed by flames last month​ (July 20), causing hours of delays for motorists heading to London.

The lorry caught fire on the A2 near the Bluewater retail park shortly after 3:00am, shutting down two of the four London-bound lanes.

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