A major motorway has closed after a tanker crashed with a car, causing major delays for motorists on Tuesday morning.
The M40 southbound remains closed between J8A in Oxford and J6 in Watlington after a large spillage of bitumen from the tanker damaged the road, National Highways said.
National Highways has warned travellers to expect travel delays as work continues to clean up the spillage from the crash, which took place at around 7.45pm on Monday night.
On Tuesday morning, it said: “There is around 3 miles of congestion on approach to the closure which is adding about half an hour to normal journey times.”
Emergency services responded to the scene overnight, where nobody was injured, and worked with specialist teams to contain the spillage from the tanker.
A replacement tanker and specialist recovery team then arrived at the site of the crash at around 3.40am to transfer the remaining load of the bitumen.
The roads remain closed as the spillage continues to be pumped, and will remain closed off until the affected lanes have been planed and resurfaced.
“Unfortunately, the replacement tanker has been unable to pump the contents from the casualty tanker and therefore recovery cannot take place at present. Plans are underway to source another tanker to continue with the pumping operation”, National Highways said.
“Our engineers have assessed the road surface and confirmed significant damage. Because the bitumen has hardened on the carriageway, simple clean-up isn’t enough, the affected lanes will need to be planed and resurfaced. This work can only be done safely under a full closure.”
National Highways has warned travellers impacted by the road closures to allow extra journey time, and advises road users to exit the M40 at J8A and head onto the A418/A40.
