A five-car crash and a separate vehicle fire caused traffic to be gridlocked on the M27 last night, causing hour long delays.

The collision took place westbound between junctions 8 and 9 at 5.17pm, which forced lanes two, three and four to be closed.

Police attended the scene but no injuries were reported and the vehicles were moved by 6.50pm.

Two lanes remained closed until 8.15pm though, which gave gridlocked traffic nowhere to go and forced drivers to sit in four miles of congestion for an hour.

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In a separate incident, a vehicle caught fire on the westbound carriageway of the M27 shortly after 5.30pm.

The fire service said: “Fire crews from Redbridge and Fareham were dispatched to a vehicle fire of the westbound carriageway on the M27.

“The carriageway was closed while teams used hose reels and jets to distinguish the fire.”

The incident did nothing to help delays further down the motorway, but fire services left the scene by 6pm.