M5 Partial Closure Southbound, Gloucestershire, Thursday 27 July 2017
On the M5 southbound in Gloucestershire just south of Tewkesbury, two lanes were closed between junctions 9 and 10 after two HGVs collided and spilt a large volume of diesel onto the road surface.
At 09:41, our colleagues in the Gloucestershire Road Policing Unit alerted
Highways England to reports that a HGV travelling southbound on the M5 had
collided with the rear of second HGV that was travelling in front of the first. Our regional control room located near Avonmouth immediately dispatched our Traffic Officer crews to the scene.
Our Traffic Officers arrived at the scene promptly and quickly set about supporting units from Gloucestershire police, Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue and the South West Ambulance Service. Incredibly, the driver of the HGV suffered only a minor injury.
There was extensive damage to both vehicles, a substantial volume of debris strewn across the carriageway and a high volume of diesel leaking onto the road surface. But despite these challenges, we were still able to keep one lane open past the scene of the collision and were able to avoid having to close the motorway.
Recovery trucks were directed to attend the scene to remove the two HGVs.
Highways England also dispatched specialist Incident Support Units to clear the debris and treat the diesel spillage. The quick work of our specialist units
prevented the diesel from damaging the road surface and avoided the need to have to re-surface the road. Re-surfacing would have kept the two lanes closed for much longer.
Despite these efforts, there was approximately 1½ miles of queuing traffic by 10:15 and by 10:42, these queues had reached as far back as junction 8. By 11:28, there was approximately 4 miles of very slow traffic and by 13:47, this had grown to
approximately 6 miles.
Our National Traffic Operations Centre based in Quinton near Birmingham was quick to set signage at the roadside to warn of the accident and the long delays. Our National Incident Liaison Officers exchanged Twitter messages with our customers, published regular updates on our website and our Customer Contact Centre was on-hand to answer your calls.
Recovery trucks had removed both of the HGVs by 12:41 and with these removed, our specialist Incident Support Units were able to get to the road surface beneath them to treat the remainder of the diesel spillage. By 15:03, we had treated the diesel spillage, cleared all of the debris and re-opened the closed lanes.
Highways England would like to thank our customers for their patience and understanding throughout this incident.