THE closure of the M5 due to an overturned fuel lorry could have cost the region’s business community millions of pounds in terms of lost trade, according to one estimate.

The drama unfolded shortly before 9am, when a lorry heading northbound turned over, splitting its roof and spilling its load of kerosene across the carriageway near junction 23, for Bridgwater.

Tailbacks stretched beyond Burnham from the north and past Taunton from the south, with motorists stuck behind the tanker waiting hours to be diverted to the gridlocked A38.

Nine hours after the crash, at 6pm, the southbound side was reopened, but the northbound direction remained shut until 6am the following morning as the Highways Agency needed to resurface the road.

Steve Leahy, chairman of Bridgwater Chamber of Commerce, said the incident had a disastrous effect on the town.

“It is a prime example of why we needed the bypass for the increase in traffic," he said.

"It shows the dependency on that one road and if anything happens to it, the town becomes gridlocked.

"And this is before we’ve had the expected growth for the Hinkley C project when there will be extra traffic coming through.

"Should a similar accident happen in two or three years when the extra traffic is in full flow I dread to think what will happen.”

Mr Leahy said if the bypass had been built from J23 at Dunball to the Cannington Road and on to J24 then much of the congestion caused by the crash could have been alleviated.

“It just highlights the failure of getting that bypass built at the time,” he said.

“As a Chamber we don’t want to look backwards but we want to look forward, but this crash highlights the problem.

"What happened was gigantic, and hopefully these things are a once in a blue moon event but the cost to local businesses runs into millions.

"We haven’t got a plan B to round the motorway when it closes.”

For every hour a motorway is closed during the working week, around 1,000 commercial vehicles are estimated to be held up by the closure and local network of roads, according to one online estimate.

Writing on the website newspaint, which claims to answer difficult problems, the author comes up with an average hourly rate of around £12.50 for an average worker.

The motorway was closed for 12 hours with around 10,000 vehicles held up.

Using the calculation given it suggests the closure cost at least £2.5m plus repairs, police and emergency service times which the BBC estimate to be £1.5m for each major motorway crash, bringing the total to £4m.

Darch Oils, which owns the fuel tanker at the centre of the chaos, issued an apology to the public for the delays.

Kevin Levy of the firm said they apologised for any inconvenience.

How did the closure affect you and your business? Email harry.mottram@nqsw.co.uk