MOTORISTS were left stranded after a single road crash, in which a tanker overturned on the M5, brought most of Somerset to a standstill.

Thousands of drivers were stuck in gridlock for hours on the M5 itself in both directions, as well as on the A-road diversion routes towards Bridgwater and the surrounding levels, on Wednesday January 6.

The drama unfolded shortly before 9am, when a lorry heading northbound turned over, splitting its roof and spilling its load of kerosene across the M5 motorway.

The incident occurred on the northbound side just before the the exit sliproad of junction 23 at Bridgwater.

The driver is reported to have been unhurt, but with 1000 litres of fuel spilled onto the road, both sides of the M5 were shut.

Tailback queues stretched further than Burnham from the north direction, and past Taunton from the south, with motorists stuck behind the tanker waiting hours to be diverted to the gridlocked A38.

Nine hours after the crash at 6pm, the southbound side was reopened, but the northbound direction remained shut until 6am the following morning as the Highways Agency needed to resurface the road.

Hundreds of people were unable to get to work or school and council waste and recycling collections were postponed.

One Bristol Airport employee spoke of how many people were unable to get to their flights, as they were stuck in the traffic mayhem.

She said: "We had lots and lots of people miss their flights because they were stuck in the motorway traffic.

"It's an absolute nightmare for them.

"Missing a flight because of something like this is just awful for the people involved."

Mercury reporters Rebecca Heyes and Will Carpenter had to get the train home from Taunton after work, instead of tackling the busy A38 route.

One motorist, Andy Powell, described how he sat in traffic for more than five hours.

"It was just a nightmare," he said.

"I wasn't far off where the tanker crashed so sat in traffic for over five hours when the road was shut, and when I finally reached the diversion, the A roads were just bumper to bumper and nobody was going anywhere.

"It makes you think twice about travelling- that stretch of motorway sees far too many incidents like this where people sit in standstill."

Were your affected by the M5 standstill? Share your thoughts with rebecca.heyes@nqsw.co.uk