A two car smash brought M62 misery to those aiming for a swift bank holiday weekend getaway.

Long queues built up following a crash between a BMW and a Ford on the eastbound side near junction 22 this afternoon with the knock-on effect still causing problems early this evening.

The incident at about 2.20pm forced police to close two lanes to clear the damaged vehicles and debris.

Jams also built up on the westbound side amid heavy rain and murky conditions as motorists heading towards Manchester slowed down to rubber-neck at the accident.

The M62 gridlocked near junction 22 after a four car crash in murky conditions on Friday, May 25, 2018.

West Yorkshire Police confirmed that the incident has been classed as “damage only.”

The crash caused delays of more than 30 minutes for motorists on both sides late into the afternoon and early evening.

A police spokesperson said the road was cleared at 4.30pm but by 6pm it was still snail pace.

The congestion left the hundreds of thousands of motorists who use the M62 frustrated once again amid the rush to hit the roads.

The RAC has estimated least 14m individual leisure trips on major roads will be taken between Friday and Monday.

Research of 2,500 motorists’ plans for the bank holiday found that the Friday would be busiest with leisure and everyday commuter traffic on the road at the same time.

Some 4.5m getaway trips were predicted, on top of the millions of normal Friday journeys.

Saturday is likely to be the next most hectic with around 3.8m separate leisure journeys, followed by the Sunday and bank holiday Monday itself, each seeing around 2.9m individual trips planned.