The crash was reported at about 4:30am near Gloucester, spilling the truck’s cargo and 200l of diesel across the southbound carriageway between junctions 14 and 15. The lorry ended on its side spread across lanes one and two.
The load of flour was being transported to Weston-super-Mare for industrial disposal, according to Highways England.
Avon & Somerset Police attended the scene, as well as fire and rescue and ambulance crews. Injuries had been reported at the scene, but were later confirmed to be not serious.
Injuries had been reported
The police posted an image of the overturned truck on their twitter page – see image below.
Work to move the caravan to the hard shoulder was completed by 5:00am, allowing one lane to be opened. The overturned lorry was cleared by 11:00am, by which time delays of 1.5 hours and seven miles of queues had been reported.
“By the mid-morning, operations to jet wash [the road surface] had commenced as the car and the caravan had been recovered clear. This allowed our contractors to start their important clean-up work,” said Highways England.
“The nearside barriers had been damaged. There was a concrete end block dislodged and there was also the concern for a resurfacing operation being very likely.”
Closed again at midnight
After three lanes were opened around 8.30pm to release queued traffic, the M5 was closed again at midnight to allow full resurfacing of the damaged motorway before it was fully reopened around 6:00am on Sunday.
Meanwhile, a lorry transporting 25t of Lion chocolate bars was engulfed by flames last month (July 20), causing hours of delays for motorists heading to London.
The lorry caught fire on the A2 near the Bluewater retail park shortly after 3:00am, shutting down two of the four London-bound lanes.