A caravan overturned on the M62 between Huddersfield and Manchester today, causing traffic jams of more than 16 miles.
It is thought that the caravan collided with the car it was being towed by in the accident at around 9.30am.
The crash happened on the westbound carriageway of the motorway between junction 21 and junction 22.
One lane was closed for recovery of the vehicles and did not open until the early afternoon.
Queues quickly built up beyond junction 24 for Ainley Top - stretching over 16 miles and motorists complained of “standstill traffic”, describing the M62 as “an absolute car park”.
Delays were exacerbated when a van caught in the jam broke down near junction 22 and traffic was made worse still when a second vehicle broke down between junction 22 and 23 at around 2.15pm.
Two lanes were closed for recovery work to take place and jams subsequently backed up all the way to junction 25 at Brighouse.
Some motorists were sat in traffic for more than two hours.
Drivers were particularly uncomfortable given it was was the hottest day of the year so far.
Nigel Wynne, who had been stuck on M62 at Saddleworth Moor for an hour, had no time for queue-jumpers.
He tweeted: “People walking around but morons think it’s OK to speed down hard shoulder with hazards on.”
Bob Marshall tweeted West Yorkshire Police saying: “We are sat in traffic on the westbound M62 at junction 23-22. A constant stream of cars using the hard shoulder as a running lane, I do hope you have someone taking down the reg numbers.”
A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Police said: “Police were called at 9.35am today to reports of a collision on the M62 at junction 22.
“The collision involved a car towing a caravan, no second vehicle involved.
“There were no reports of injuries.”
