Chaos after big smash on the M6

Chaos hit the M6 today with motorists facing hour-long delays in six-mile tailbacks following a crash.

And thousands of music fans taking to the region's roads today following the weekend's V Festival in Staffordshire added to the heavy traffic.

Three lanes of the northbound M6 carriageway were closed due to a diesel spillage after a tanker and a car collided at about 7am at junction 6, Spaghetti Junction.

About 60 litres of fuel spilled from the lorry and spread 300 yards down the carriageway. A car driver was arrested for failing to supply a specimen of breath.

The northbound carriageway between junction 6 and junction 7 at Great Barr was closed while the spillage was cleared. Motorists trying to get off the Aston Expressway on to junction six were directed on to the southbound carriageway.

Drivers were left queuing from junction six to junction nine at Wednesbury while the fuel was cleared.

On the southbound carriageway there was slow- moving traffic of up to 15 miles back to junction 11a near Cannock as drivers slowed to look at the spillage on the other side of the road.

Further problems were caused when a lorry broke down on the northbound carriageway at junction five, Castle Bromwich, blocking two lanes of the motorway.

Meanwhile thousands of V Festival revellers leaving the weekend event at Weston Park were queuing on the A41 leading up to junction three of the M54, both south and northbound, according to the Highways Agency.

Spokesman Jo Carroll said: "The M54 is slightly busier than normal with people making their way onto the motorway."

There was no repeat of Friday's chaotic scenes, when drivers were left queuing for up to four hours around the festival site.