Traffic chaos as truck hits, collapses bridge on UK highway

Motorists caught up in the delays got out of their cars to play cricket and football on the empty motorway, while others sunned themselves on the central reservation as they watched.

“My instinct was just to drive through”.

The southeast motorway, which links London with the major cross-Channel port of Dover and the nearby Eurotunnel terminal, was closed in both directions.

The motorcyclist, in his 50s, was taken by road ambulance to Tunbridge Wells Hospital with suspected broken ribs.

The M20 is the main route to Fokestone and Dover and was expected to be busy because of the bank holiday.

Witness, Sonny Gladdish, told the BBC he saw a digger impact with the bridge.

Kalpana Fitzpatrick, who had been driving on the motorway, told Sky News from the scene: “What we can see is two trucks squashed by this bridge and emergency services are at the scene. Traffic will be heavier than usual”.

A spokesperson for the South East Coast Ambulance Service said paramedics were treating one patient and that the air ambulance were sent to the scene.

The busiest single day for motorists embarking on leisure journeys is expected to be Saturday, when 10 million drivers have been predicted to be getting behind the wheel.

Another witness, Andy Sunnucks, 24, said: “It looked like a lorry had jackknifed, and I could see half the bridge was missing”.

“The last weekend of August is traditionally busy for the Port of Dover and Eurotunnel as people return to the United Kingdom after spending the summer on the continent”, Kent police said.

Highways England has warned the road could be closed until ‘at least tomorrow’ and has given the following instructions to drivers.

Pictures posted on social media showed the structure collapsed across the carriageways near the junction with the M26, badly damaged lorries nearby and queues of traffic.