A ‘volatile’ chemical was spilled and a driver broke a leg in a crash that closed the M62 near Bradford for several hours today.

Two lorries and a tanker collided on the eastbound carriageway between junctions 26 and 27 at 12.30pm.

All three vehicles remained upright, but a 47-year-old man driving one of the lorries was trapped behind his steering wheel.

Watch Commander Phil Warden, of Odsal fire station, said it took one-and-a-half hours to free the man because the highly flammable liquid in the tanker had leaked under the lorry where he was trapped. Watch commander Warden said: “Any spark and it could have caused a lot of damage, or possibly even killed people.

“We had to play safe. Paramedics said the trapped man was stable, so we took our time.”

He took the decision to close both sides of the motorway because of the chemical spill.

Queues of traffic snaked back to junction 24 on the eastbound carriageway, and junction 30 westbound. There was traffic chaos throughout the south of Bradford as vehicles were diverted off the motorway.

Buses were affected by the jams, with services at Bradford Interchange still delayed by up to an hour at 7pm. The motorway reopened at 6pm.