National Highways Reopens M5 After 14-Hour Tanker Crash Closure

The m5 reopened between junction 22 near Burnham-on-Sea and junction 23 near Bridgwater on Tuesday, May 5 after a crash between a car and a fuel tanker closed the route for about 14 hours. The southbound carriageway reopened at 7.15pm, while the northbound side had already reopened earlier in the afternoon.

Clarke Hobbs on the tanker

Clarke Hobbs, operations manager in the control room at National Highways, said the tanker was fully loaded and carried 32,000 litres of petrol. "Unfortunately the petrol tanker was fully loaded, which meant that there were 32,000 litres of petrol on board."

He said the fuel had to be pumped into a second tanker before recovery work could take place. "That needed to be pumped out into a second tanker before the recovery could took place so the motorway was closed with significant delays in the area."

Musgrove Park Hospital

The South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust said it was called at 4:44am on Tuesday, May 5 to a road traffic collision near Burnham-on-Sea. A spokesperson said: "We sent two double-crewed land ambulances, an operations officer, and the hazardous area response team to the scene."

The trust said it conveyed two patients by land ambulances to Musgrove Park Hospital. The crash also caused damage to the barrier after the tanker hit the central reservation, travelled across the three lanes and ended up on the hard shoulder.

Burnham and Bridgwater roads

Drivers reported delays of 5 to 6 hours, and queues reached up to 14 miles as traffic built on the M5 and nearby roads. The closure also caused heavy congestion on the A38 southbound at Edithmead to near Dunball where it joins the A39 just before junction 23 of the M5.

A scheduled closure of the A38 in Highbridge was cancelled because of the crash. "Due to the incident earlier on the M5, our works on Isleport Roundabout were suspended for the night. Works will start again on Wednesday 6th May," a council spokesman said.