M5 Closed Following Fuel Tanker Incident
A portion of the M5 motorway has been closed after a fuel tanker jackknifed, resulting in a substantial diesel spill.
The southbound carriageway between junction 22 for Burnham-on-Sea and junction 23 for Bridgwater in Somerset was shut following the crash at approximately 04:30 BST.
The lorry collided with the central reservation, crossed all three lanes, and came to rest on the hard shoulder, damaging the barrier. Subsequently, a car struck the side of the tanker.
National Highways confirmed that no injuries were reported but warned of delays of around two and a half hours. They do not anticipate reopening the lanes until about 17:00.
The diesel spill originated from the HGV's engine rather than the petrol it was transporting.
Operations and Recovery Efforts
Clarke Hobbs, operations manager in the National Highways control room, provided further details to BBC Radio Somerset:
"Unfortunately the petrol tanker was fully loaded, which means there were 32,000 litres of petrol on board.
That needs to be pumped out into a second tanker before the recovery takes place so at the moment the motorway is still closed with significant delays in the area."
The process of transferring the petrol is expected to take approximately two hours. After the tanker is removed, the motorway will undergo inspection prior to reopening.
"Realistically, we're looking into this afternoon before we're going to be able to get lanes back open," Hobbs said.
Traffic Impact and Diversions
The closure has caused heavy congestion along the diversion route on the A38 southbound near East Brent to near Dunball, where it connects with the A39 just before junction 23 of the M5.
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