The M6 in Cheshire was closed southbound between J18 (A54, Holmes Chapel, Middlewich) and J17 (A534, Sandbach) due to a serious collision involving 2 Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) and 1 car.

The incident required an extensive clean-up and recovery operation followed by emergency barrier repairs. Due to this closure severe delays were experienced on the M6 southbound in Cheshire throughout most of the afternoon and evening period.

At approximately 14:35 on Thursday 9th March, the North West Motorway Police Group started to receive multiple reports from members of the public that there had been a serious multi-vehicle collision within the roadworks on the M6 southbound between J18 and J17.

The police rapidly notified Highways England’s North West Regional Control Centre (RCC) and the local CCTV was checked to see if the incident could be found and confirmed.

The first emergency units arrived on scene at 14:44 and confirmed that a collision had occurred involving 2 HGVs and 1 car and there was serious injuries along with a substantial fuel leak from both HGVs involved.

All emergency services were required to the scene including Cheshire Fire & Rescue and North West Ambulance Service. The attending officers from North West Motorway Police Group instructed that the road needed to be closed whilst this incident was dealt with and it would most likely be a protracted closure.

Once the severity of the incident was apparent operators at Highways England’s North West RCC began setting warning signs on the M6 southbound to advise of the incident. In addition the Highways England National Traffic Operations Centre (NTOC) was notified. As a result electronic signs were set further afield to warn road users across the North West region and on the major routes in to the area of the closure. NTOC also issued information regarding the incident and its impact on road users via Highways England’s online traffic information site (www.highwaysengland.com).

In addition Highways England’s National Incident Liaison Officer (NILO) was informed of the incident. The NILO produced an initial report on the details of the incident and distributed this to the local and national media to ensure that information about the incident and closure could be provided to the public via as effectively as possible.

Once the closure was confirmed as required Highways England implemented a locally agreed diversion route via the diverted from J18, via the A54 eastbound, A50 southbound, and A534 westbound — to return to the M6 at J17. Once this route was confirmed the Highways England NILO communicated this out via the previously mentioned methods (social media, incident reports and online).

By 1600 the nature of the injuries sustained in the collision meant that the North West Motorway Police Group advised that a full investigation in to the collision which would not be required and that the operation to clean-up the scene and recovery of the vehicles could commence.

Recovery for the vehicles arrived on scene at approximately 1630 along with Highways Eng*land maintenance contractors to begin removing the debris and deal with substantial diesel spillage. By 19:50 the recovery of the vehicles was complete.

The 2 lane closure was set in place and once the repair crew was on site and ready the road was reopened to traffic with closures being removed in stages from 21:35 and traffic led through the clo*sure under a rolling road block in the 1 lane open past the scene.

Throughout the incident and road closure there were severe delays on the M6 southbound approaching the closure at J18. However, the delays on the M6 southbound in Cheshire were exasapated by a number of breakdowns in the congestion, road users parking up at J18 to await the reopening of the M6 and limited capacity on the diversion route.

Overnight repairs were made to the crash barrier with all lanes being reopened by the morning of the 10th March.

Highways England would like to thank those affected by this incident and closure for their considerable patience and understanding whilst this complex clean-up, recovery and barrier repair work was completed.