Thousands of motorists were stuck in tailbacks stretching more than six miles on the M6 today after a lorry jacknifed and hit a safety barrier on an overhead bridge.

The M5 southbound interchange was closed to drivers amid fears that lumps of concrete could fall onto the carriageway.

The lorry jackknifed at 6.45am on the northbound link road between the M5 and M6.

Click on the numbers below to see more pictures.

As a result, drivers travelling southbound along the M6 wishing to access the M5 were diverted at Junction 7, for Great Barr.

Motorists were also stopped from getting on the M6 southbound at Junction 9 Wednesbury.

Traffic stretched back as far as Junction 11 on the M6 southbound, approaching the M5 at Junction 8, and there were queues between Junction 7 and 10 northbound.

Legal secretary Corin Gough, aged 25, who works in Birmingham city centre, was stuck in the traffic jams.

She said: “The traffic was just awful. It was just gridlock. It is always a nightmare drive anyway but it is the only way I can get to work in a reasonable time, but today I was 45 minutes late.”

Traffic was reduced to a single lane at the scene of the accident on the northbound link road. The Richmond Rentals lorry has been removed from the scene.

Highways Agency spokesman James Wright said: “The delays are worse on the southbound carriageways. We had to close the southbound link road because of the damage overhead.” West Midlands Ambulance Service was called to the scene but the driver was uninjured.

Driver Helen Wilkes, a 26-year-old transport worker, was also caught in the traffic chaos.“It was just miserable,” she said. “I was trying to get from Wolverhampton to Birmingham for work but was stuck for almost an hour.”