THE M5 has been reopened after thousands of drivers were stuck in traffic for almost nine hours due a fuel spillage on the road.

Roughly 110 litres of hydraulic fluid spilt and spread across a three mile stretch of motorway between J5 and J6, causing long delays reaching back to J4a for Bromsgrove.

The M5 southbound between J5 and J6 was closed at 4pm on Wednesday, June 22, and didn't reopen until 1am the next morning.

Drivers were gridlocked in seven miles of queues, causing motorists leaving Bromsgrove to divert through Stourbridge and Kidderminster to get to Worcester.

One driver, tweeting as @helenbonbellon, said: "Seems we escaped M5 hell. Lots people stuck for many hours. We did well to come off at the M42."

Another motorist Michelle Sharp tweeted: "Just driven along #A38. Continuous traffic #Worcester to #Bromsgrove due to #M5 closure #verygladgoingoppositedirection"

Highways England said the fuel, which came from a heavy goods vehicle, was cleaned up using specialist high pressure waterblast equipment.

Planned overnight closures that were due to take place between 10pm and 6am were cancelled.

Highways England operations manager Simon Foxall said: “Safety is our top priority, and we could not reopen the carriageway until it was completely safe for road users.

“We worked as hard as we could with our contractors to reopen the carriageway as quickly as possible, and we thank drivers for their patience.”