M25 closure causes 20-mile queue

Thousands of motorists have been stuck in traffic on the M25 after a section of the motorway was partially closed.

Traffic built up after engineers saw a collapsed drainage chamber in a section of road already coned off for works.

An estimated 20,000 vehicles were caught in tailbacks stretching 20 miles on the anti-clockwise carriageway from junction 13 near Heathrow Airport.

An AA spokeswoman said: "All the work is done but the advice is to take a different route."

Rebecca Rees, from the AA, said: "That section is used by 250,000 people a day.

"It's the busiest section of motorway in Europe; it's a very important route.

"It's the way people go to Heathrow; it's the way people get to the M4 and into London."