Emergency repairs caused severe delays and over ten miles of queues from Junction 30 of the M25 near Thurrock Wednesday evening (May 29).

Highways England said that the massive queues reported in Orpington, Thurrock and Dartford were caused by emergency pairs undertaken near Junction 30 following a collision earlier on Wednesday which caused serious damage to the highway.

In a statement posted to Twitter, Highways England said two of the three lanes in the immediate area had been closed and urged road users to consider alternative routes.

"Traffic is queuing back to J4 of the #M25 #Dartford #Thurrock due to an incident earlier today anti-clockwise within J30 @intuLakeside.

"The collision caused significant damage to the causeway. Emergency repairs are required, two lanes (of three) are closed. Consider alternative routes."

Images from live traffic cameras placed above the busy section of the motorway showed queues stretching away into the distance from Junction 4 near Badger's Mount to near the epicentre of the repair work at Junction 30 close to Dartford, where severe queues surrounding the town were reported.

Transport for London (TfL) confirmed severe delays on Twitter at around 6pm and joined Highways England urging road users in the area to modify their routes.

"Traffic is heavy and slow moving eastbound towards the M25, congestion now reaching back towards Kidbrooke Interchange, other eastbound routes towards Dartford are also reported very heavy, expect delays and use other routes," a spokesperson for TfL said.