The extent of the damage and disruption caused by a scrap metal lorry overturning on one of Liverpool's busiest routes became clear today.
Pictures taken at the scene show large amounts of waste material littering the road at the Rocket flyover, while the vehicle itself was left badly damaged. Fortunately, the driver is believed to have escaped with only minor injuries and no other vehicles are believed to have been involved.
Cranes were needed to move the tons of scrap metal from the roadway. Meanwhile, another team was busily sanding down the eastbound carriageway, which remained closed to traffic while the clear-up operation was carried out.
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The lorry is believed to have overturned at around 5.20am today. The incident left the roadway strewn with scrap metal and other waste and led to the M62 eastbound being closed between J4 (for The Rocket) and J5 (for Huyton). Emergency services warned that clearing up the mess was likely to be "a protracted operation."
Traffic information service Inrix reported that the closure had led to queueing traffic, because of both the accident investigation work and onlookers.
The circumstances of how the lorry came to turn over on its side have yet to be made clear. It left the vehicle with its front badly damaged and windscreen smashed. A vehicle was at the scene to tow it away.
A lamp-post was also left damaged and was being taken down.
People took to social media concerning the incident. Jennifer Corkill said: "Drove past this on my way into work this morning. Utter chaos as it's all over the two carriageways."
Sandra Lucky said: "What a terrible inconvenience for other road users today."
Gary Johnson said: "Got there just after, busy times getting through Childwall now, really bad mess going to take ages to get cleared."
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