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National Highways said around 12.15pm that traffic had been stopped while emergency services attended the horror collision between Junctions 18 and 19, near Knutsford services. It added a few minutes later that one of four lanes had been reopened to help ease the congestion – but this has had a limited effect on the delays.
As of 12.20pm, it was reporting five miles of congestion due to the crash, with expected delays of 40 minutes.
However, National Highways said that as of 1.20pm there were “long delays” of an hour, and as of 1.40pm, there were “severe delays” of 90 minutes.
There were still around 5 miles of tailbacks, it said.
In a statement, National Highways noted that “all emergency services are on scene”, including members of the North West Motorway Police Group.
North West Ambulance Service confirmed to local outlet CheshireLive that one person has been taken to hospital following the crash with “non-serious injuries”.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service revealed that a HGV lorry had been involved and had been “confirmed as being empty” with “no hazardous materials” on board.
Cheshire Constabulary earlier stated it had one vehicle in attendance “assisting with stopping traffic”.
National Highways said traffic was being allowed to pass slowly “whilst emergency services continue to work at the scene”.
The roads agency told motorists: “If this closure impacts on your planned route, please allow extra journey time.
“Plan ahead, you may wish to re-route or even delay your journey.”
Traffic England said that as of 1.35pm, there were delays of up to 2 hours behind the incident.
It is also reporting a broken down vehicle further down the M6, also on the northbound carriageway, just after Junction 18.
This, it said, had caused one lane of three to close, and was contributing to delays further down the motorway.
To further add to the misery, a broken down vehicle has also been reported on the southbound carriageway, between Junctions 16 and 17, with one lane closed and delays of 15 minutes.
Junction 19 of the motorway is the turn-off Knutsford Services and the Tabley interchange, while Junction 18 is its intersection with the A54 outside Middlewich.
The stretch of affected road sits between Stoke-on-Trent and Manchester.
Just last Wednesday, two lanes on the same stretch of the motorway were closed after a caravan fire damaged the road surface, necessitating emergency repairs.
The fire sparked 50 minutes of delays at the time, and 8 miles of congestion going southbound.
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