A 'SERIOUS' crash led to two lanes of the southbound M5 being closed near Worcester for almost five hours this morning.

The collision involving two lorries occurred just before 6am, between Junctions 7 (Worcester south) and 8 (for the M50), and caused congestion back to Junction 6 (Worcester north).

Motorists faced delays of more than two hours after the accident near Strensham Services, which saw lanes one and two closed. Traffic was allowed to pass in lane three.

The Highways Agency said its recovery work was delayed as "specialist equipment" was required to respond to the incident.

This arrived just after 10am and the clear-up was completed by 11am, when all lanes were reopened.

However, anyone hoping to travel along the stretch of motorway faces "severe delays" and the Agency urged people to "leave extra time to travel or take a different route".

After the incident, one lane was closed northbound for a time because of debris from the crash.

A West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman said two lorry drivers were treated at the scene and one was in shock, while the other had minor grazes.

They were given the all-clear after the check-up.